Part 16 (2/2)

and [Greek letter: Oa] of the Greek alphabet At the coement of the letters of that alphabet had becoht readily have been used to represent respectively the beginning and the end of any series or nuure of speech was employed in the book of Revelations In the attempted interpretation of the inscription mentioned, which was hawked about to many scientific bodies, and published over the whole country, the supposed alpha and oa were assumed to constitute a universal as well as sacred sy Creator The usual _ with apples, was also commonly known at the time when the book of Revelations ritten, and the phrase ”_ab ovo usque ad a” to express ”fro the stone it would, therefore, be as correct in principle to take one of its oval and one of its round figures, call the and apple, andwholly for significance upon the order of courses of a feast or the accident of alphabetical position, but having intrinsic characteristics in reference to the origin and fruition of life, the egg and apple translation, would be ment, and it is reco symbols where none exist

_SIGNS USED BY WOMEN AND CHILDREN_

For reasons before given it is i extent of fa the e a proportion possesses any skill in it, and the average amount of their vocabulary It is also of special interest to learn the degree to which woe at which children commence its practice; also whether they receive systematic instruction in it The statement was made by titchken language, while the Cheyenne women are versed in it As he is a Cheyenne, however, he e circle of feative testie experience, asserts that the Kaiowa and Coh the Cheyenne either are ree of expertness The Con-talkers Colonel Dodgethe Plains tribes only the old, or at least ns properly, and that he has not seen any woives this statee; but it is questionable if the fact is not sins, in many tribes, by which, cause women, not so frequently called upon to eeneration, who have had no necessity to learn the Mist, as before mentioned, rens more than the men

It is also asserted, with sons used by h mutually understood, and some minor points for observationupon the fingers is upon those of the right or the left hand, and whether Indians take pains to look toward the south when suggesting the course of the sun, which would give the estion has been ns of affiliation are known and used by the ious and tote several Indian tribes No evidence of this has been received, but the point is worth attention

_POSITIVE SIGNS RENDERED NEGATIVE_

In ns to convey son with the opposite signification is given, coupled with the sign of negation In other words, the onlyis supposed to be by negation of the reverse of what it is desired to describe In this ood--no,” would be ”bad” This mode of expression is very frequent as a ns are in fact also used The reported absence of positive signs for the ideas negatived is therefore often made with as little propriety as if when an ordinary speaker chose to use the negative fornorant of the word ”bad” It will seldoe has reached and retained any high degree of development it will show such poverty as to require the expedient of negation of an affirmative to express an idea which is intrinsically positive

_DETAILS OF POSITIONS OF FINGERS_

The signs of the Indians appear to consist ofthe difficulty both of their description and illustration--and the e, free, and striking, seldo Indians as aer is used to trace outlines and the palm of the hand to describe surfaces Frons made to each other for the same object by Indians of the saestures with little regard to the position of the fingers and to vary in such arrangement fro with great detail the attitude of the fingers of any particular gesturer and the inches traced by hisa written word, a careful reproduction of the flourishes of tailed letters and the thickness of down-strokes in individual chirography The fingers must be in _some_ position, but that is frequently accidental, not contributing to the general and essential effect An exan for _whitethe palmar surface of the extended index across the forehead, and in LEAN WOLF'S COMPLAINT, _infra_, page 526, the same motion is made by the back of the thumb pressed upon the middle joint of the index, fist closed The execution as well as the conception in both cases was the indication of the line of the hat on the forehead, and the position of the fingers in forether immaterial There is often also a custom or ”fashi+on” in which not only different tribes, but different persons in the sarees of beauty, for there is calligraphy in sign language, though no recognized orthography It is nevertheless better to describe and illustrate with unnecessarya real distinction There are, also, in fact, ers, soeers in itself foriven for the _bear_, viz: Middle and third finger of right hand clasped down by the thuer extended crooked doard

See EXTRACTS FROM DICTIONARY, _infra_ This reproduction, of the animals peculiar claith the hand and in any position relative to the body, would suffice without the panton without it should not be at once comprehended

_MOTIONS RELATIVE TO PARTS OF THE BODY_

[Illustration: Fig 233]

The specified relation of the positions and motions of the hands to different parts of the body is essential to the forns Those for _speak, hear_, and _see_, which must be respectively made relative to the mouth, ear and eye, are manifest examples; and there are others less obviously dependent upon parts of the body, such as the heart or head, which would not be intelligible without apposition There are also soround and other points of reference

In, however, a large proportion of the signs noted the position of the hands with reference to the body can be varied or disregarded

The hands esturer is standing or sitting, or the person addressed is distant or near by These variations have been partly discussed under the head of abbreviations While descriptions reat particularity are cuesture which eneric conception, with, if possible, also the description of such deviations and abbreviations as are ns for yes and no, described with precise detail as in EXTRACTS FROM DICTIONARY, _infra_, are also often made by an Indian rapped in his blanket with only a forefinger protruding, the former by a mere doard and the latter by a sier

An exan for _lie, falsehood_,233 in which the separated index and second fingers are moved sidewise in a doard line near but below the mouth, which may be compared with other executions of the ers directly forward froiven in LEAN WOLF'S COMPLAINT, illustrated on page 528, in which the inal sign was undoubtedly ues,” two accounts or opposed stateer-position coues has relation to the original conception whether or notunderstood

It will thus be seen that so or suggesting a figure without reference to motion, while in other cases the relative position of the hands to each other and to parts of the body are significant without any special arrangeain, in others, the lines drawn in the air by the hand or hands execute the conception without further detail In each case only the essential details, when they can be ascertained, should be minutely described

_SUGGESTIONS FOR COLLECTING SIGNS_

The object always should be, not to translate frons and theirthis result is to induce Indians or other gesturers observed to tell stories, esture, with one of thee if the latter is understood by the observer, and, if not, the words, not the signs, should be translated by an interuistic interpreter It will be easy afterward to dissect and separate the particular signs used This n, and corresponds with the plan now adopted by the Bureau of Ethnology for the study of the tribal vocal languages, instead of that arising out of exclusively missionary purposes, which was to force a translation of the Bible froue not adapted to its terraenuity will direct the esturers to the expression of the thoughts, signs for which are specially sought; and full orderly descriptions of such tales and talks with or even without analysis and illustration are more desired than any other forinal authorities, or the best evidence, for Indian signs--ie, the Indians the still accessible, the collaborators in this work should not be content with secondary authority White sign talkers and interpreters ns, but they are very apt to interpolate their own improvements