536 SIGN LANGUAGE AMONG NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 
QUESTION. 
The ordinary manner of opening communication with parties known 
or supposed to be hostile is to ride toward them in zigzag manner, or to 
ride in a circle. (Custer’s My Life on the Plains, loc. cit., p. 58.) 
This author mentions (p. 202) a systematic manner of waving a blanket, 
by which the son of Satana, the Kaiowa chief, conveyed information to 
him, and a similar performance by Yellow Bear, a chief of the Arapahos 
(p. 219), neither of which he explains in detail. 
I do not know you. Who are you? 
Point the folded blanket at arm’s length toward the person, and then 
wave it toward the right and left in front of the face. You—I don’t 
know. Take an end of the blanket in each hand, and extend the arms 
to full capacity at the sides of the body, letting the other ends hang 
down in front of the body to the ground, means, Where do you come 
from? or who are you? (Dakota I.) 
SAFETY. ALL Quiet. See NoTES ON CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHO 
SIGNALS. 
SURRENDER. 
Hold the folded blanket or a piece of cloth high above the head. 
“ This really means ‘I want to die right now.” (Dakota I.) 
SURROUNDED, We are. 
Take an end of the blanket in each hand, extend the arms at the sides 
of the body, allowing the blanket to hang down in front of the body, 
and then wave it in a circular manner. (Dakota I.) 
SIGNALS MADE WHEN THE PERSON OF THE SIGNALIST 
IS NOT VISIBLE. 
Those noted consist of SMOKE, FIRE, or DUST signals. 
SMOKE SIGNALS GENERALLY. 
They [the Indians] had abandoned the coast, along which bale-fires 
were left burning and sending up their columns of smoke to advise the 
distant bands of the arrival of their old enemy. (Schoolcraft’s History, 
&ec., vol. iii, p. 35, giving a condensed account of De Soto’s expedition.) 
“Their systems of telegraphs are very peculiar, and though they 
might seem impracticable at first, yet so thoroughly are they understood 
by the savages that it is availed of frequently to immense advantage. 
The most remarkable is by raising smokes, by which many important 
facts are communicated to a considerable distance and made intelligi- 
ble by the manner, size, number, or repetition of the smokes, which are 
