299 



Another: Make the sign for Oog and that for To Eat. This sign 

 is generally used, but the other and more common one is also employed, 

 especially so with individuals not fully conversant with the sign-lan- 

 guage as employed by the Comanches, &c. [Kaiowa I; Gomanchelll ; 

 Apache II ; ^yicMta II.) " Dog-eaters." 



Draw the extended index across the back of the left hand and arm as 

 if cutting it. The index does not touch the arm as in signs given for 

 the same tribe by other Indiaus, but is held at least four or five inches 

 from it. (Shoshoni and Bahalc I.) 



Chippeway. See Ojibwa. 



Comanche. 



Imitate, bj^ the waving of the baud or forefinger, the forward crawling 

 motion of a snake. [Burton^ also Blachnore in introduction to Dodge's 

 Plains of the Great West, p. xxv. New York, 1877.) The same sign is 

 used for the Shoshoni, more comraoidy called "Snake" Indians, who as 

 well as the (Jomanche belong to the Numa linguistic family. "The 

 silent stealth of the tribe." (Thirty Years of Army Life on the Border- 

 By Col. E. B. Marcy, p. 33. New York, 1866.) But see Sho»«hoiii 

 for distinction between the signs. 



Motion of a snake. (Macgowan.) 



Hold the elbow of the right arm near the right side, but not touching 

 it ; extend the forearm and hand, palm inward, fingers joined on a level 

 with the elbow, then with a shoulder movement draw that forearm and 

 hand back until the points of the Angers are behind the body; at the 

 same time that the hand is thus being moved back, turn it right and 

 left several times. {Sac, Fox, and Kickupoo I.) "Snake in the grass. 

 A snake drawing itself back in the grass instead of crossing the road in 

 front of you." 



Another : The sign by, and for the Comanches themselves is made 

 by holding both hands and arms upward from the elbow, both palms 

 inward, and passing both hands with their backs upward along the 

 lower end of the hair to indicate long hair, as they never cut it. (Sac, 

 Fox, and KicJcapoo I.) 



Eight hand horizontal, flat, palm downward (W), advanced to the 

 front by a motion to represent the crawling of a snake. (Dakota III.) 



Extend the closed right hand to the front and left; extend the index, 

 palm down, and rotate from side to side while drawing it back to the 

 right hip. (Kaiowa 1; Comanche III ; A2)ache II; Wichita II.) 



Make the reverse gesture for ShO!i>honi, *• e., begin away from the 

 body, drawing the hand back to the side of the right hip while rotating 

 it. [Comanche II.) 



