THE GESTURE-LANGUAGE. 37 



supposGj the fore-fingers of both hands) into the mouth, to show- 

 that both fed from the same breast ; the deaf-mute makes the 

 mere sign of likeness or equahty suffice, holding out the fore- 

 fingers, of both hands close together, a sign which, according to 

 James, also does duty to indicate " husband " or " companion." 

 This sign of the two fore-fingers is understood everywhere, and 

 some very curious instances of its use in remote parts of the 

 world are given by Marsh^ in illustration of Fluellen's " But 

 'tis all one, 'tis so like as my fingers is to my fingers." It be- 

 longs, too, to the sign-language of the Cistercian monks. 



Animals are represented in the Indian pantomime very much 

 as the deaf-and-dumb would represent them, by signs charac- 

 terizing their pecuhar ears, horns, etc., and their movements. 

 Thus the sign for "stag" among the deaf-and-dumb, namely, 

 the thumbs to both temples, and the fingers widely spread out, 

 is almost identical with the Indian gesture. For the dog, how- 

 ever, the Indians have a remarkable sign, which consists in 

 trailing the two first fingers of the right hand, as if they were 

 poles dragged along the ground. Before the Indians had 

 horses, the dogs were trained to drag the lodge-poles on the march 

 in this way, and in Catlin's time the work was in several tribes 

 divided between the dogs and the horses ; but it appears that 

 in tribes where the trailing is now done by horses only, the 

 sign for " dog" derived from the old custom is still kept up. 



One of the Indian signs is curious as having reflected itself in 

 the spoken language of the country. " Water " is represented 

 by an imitation of scooping up water with the hand and drink- 

 ing out of it, and " river " by making this sign, and then wav- 

 ing the palms of the hands outward, to denote an extended 

 surface. It is evident that the first part of the sign is translated 

 in the western Americanism which speaks of a river as a 

 '' drink," and of the Mississippi, par excellence,, as the " Big 

 Drink."- It need hardly be said that spoken language is full 

 of such translations from gestures, as when one is said to wink 

 at another's faults, an expression which shows us the act ot 



' Marsh, ' Lectures on the Enghsh Language ;' London, 1862, p. 486. 

 ^ J. E.. Bartlett, ' Dictionary of Americanisms,' 2nd edit., Boston, 1859, s. v. 

 " Drink." 



