40 THE GESTURE-LANGUAGE. 



signs described is as follows : — " I — this morning — early — 

 mounted my liorse — galloped — a kanyon — crossed — a moun- 

 tain — a plain — drink — no ! — sighted — bison — killed — three — 

 skinned— j)acked iiesh — mounted — hither." There is perhaps 

 nothing which would strike a deaf-and-dumb man as pecu- 

 liar in the sequence of these signs ; but it would be desirable 

 for a real discourse, delivered by an Indian in signs, to be 

 taken down, especially if its contents were of a more com- 

 plex nature. 



Among the Cistercian monks there exists, or existed, a ges- 

 ture-language. As a part of their dismal system of mortifying 

 the deeds of the body, they held speech, except in religious 

 exercises, to be sinful. But for certain purposes relating to the 

 vile material life that they could not quite shake off, communi- 

 cation among the brethren was necessary, so the difficulty was 

 met by the use of pantomimic signs. Two of their written 

 lists or dictionaries are printed in the collected edition of Leib- 

 nitz^s works,^ one in Latin, the other in Low German ; they 

 are not identical, but appear to be mostly or altogether derived 

 from a list drawn up by authority. 



A great part of the Cistercian gesture-signs are either just 

 what the deaf-and-dumb would make, or are so natural that 

 they would at once understand them. Thus, to make a roof 

 with the fingers is " house ; " to grind the fists together is 

 "corn;" to "sing" is indicated by beating time; to "bathe" 

 is to imitate washing the breast with the hollow of the hand ; 

 " candle," or " fire," is shown by holding up the fore-finger 

 and blowing it out like a candle ; a " goat " is indicated by 

 the fingers hanging from the chin like a beard; '^salt,^^ by 

 taking an imaginary pinch and sprinkling it; "butter," by 

 the action of spreading it in the palm of the hand. The deaf- 

 and-dumb sign used at Berlin and other places to indicate 

 '' time " by drawing the tip of the forefinger up the arm, is in 

 the Cistercian list " a year ; " it is Sicard's sign for " long," and 

 the idea it conveys is plainly that of " a length " transferred 

 from space to time. To " go " is to make the two first fingers 

 walk hanging in the air (Hengestu se dahl und rorest se, 



' Leibnitz, Opera Omnia, ed. Dutens ; Geneva, 1768, vol. vi. part ii., p. 207, etc. 



