160 

 Kind. Sec Good heart. 



Knife. 



Ho](l the left hand clinched near the month, as if it held one end of a 

 strip of meat, the other end of which was l<etween the teeth, then |»ass 

 the edge of the right hand as in the act of cntting obliqnely a little 

 upward from light to left between the other hand and month, so as to 

 apiiear to divide the supposed meat. (Lotii).) 



Cut past the month with the raised right hand. ( Wied.) I have 

 given you a different sign, which is the only one I have ever seen. 

 (Mattlieic.s.) Although the signs (Oto and Missouri I, and Wied''s) are 

 different in their execution as applied to local parts, the same conception 

 pervades each — " something used to sever or separate." ( Boteler.) Wied's 

 sign probably refers to the general practice of cntting off food, as much 

 being crammed into the month as can be managed and then separated 

 by a stroke of a knife from the remaining mass. This is specially the 

 case with fat and enti'ails, the al)original delicacies. 



Cut the sinister palm with the dexter ferient downward and toward 

 one's self: if the cuts be nnide upward with the palm downward, meat 

 is understood. (Burton.) 



Right hand, palm outward, little finger representing the edge of a 

 knife, drawn downward across palm or inside of left hand. {Cheyenne I.) 



Left-liand fist (B) held six or eiglit inclies in front of the month, 

 back outward, as though holding a large piece of meat in the mouth, 

 and then the right hand with the back outward, fingers extended, joined, 

 upright (S), is passed from right to left on a curve between the month 

 and the left hand as though cutting the piece of meat in two. {Dalota I.) 

 "JNIay have come from their first manner of using the knife in eating." 



Hold the left fist, back outward, about eight inches in front of the 

 mouth, and move the opened right hand, i)alm backward, fingers jioint- 

 ing obliqnely upward towartl the left, obliquely ui)\vard and downward 

 from side to side behind it. [Dakota IV.) "Holding a piece of meat 

 with the left hand and the teeth, and cntting a piece off" with a knife." 



The left hand, fully opened, witli the fingers close together, palm up- 

 ward and finger tips to the front, is held before the person. Then the 

 right hand, also fully opened and with fingers not spread apart, with 

 the palm inward and the thumb upward, 4s laid transversely on the 

 left palm — the outer edge only touching the left palm. Sometimes the 

 right hand is then drawn away once to the right with a motion repre 

 sen ting a cut. (Mandan and Hidatsa I.) 



