Chapter LXXXVIII: Section 4: Gesture and Posture Signs Depicted

Among people where a system of ideographic gesture signs has prevailed it would be expected that their form would appear in any mode of pictorial representation used with the object of conveying ideas or recording facts. When a gesture sign had been established and it became necessary or desirable to draw a character or design to convey the same idea, nothing could be more natural than to use the graphic form or delineation which was known and used in the gesture sign. It was but one more step, and an easy one, to fasten upon bark, skins, or rocks the evanescent air pictures of the signs.

In the paper “Sign language among the North American Indians,” published in the First Ann. Rep. of the Bureau of Ethnology, a large number of instances were given of the reproduction of gesture lines in the pictographs made by those Indians, and they appeared to be most frequent when there was an attempt to convey subjective ideas. It was suggested, therefore, that those pictographs which, in the absence of positive knowledge, are the most difficult of interpretation were those to which the study of sign-language might be applied with advantage. The topic is now more fully discussed. Many pictographs in the present work, the meaning of which is definitely known from direct sources, are noted in connection with the gesture-signs corresponding with the same idea, which signs are also understood from independent evidence or legitimate deduction.

Dr. Edkins (_c_) makes the following remarks regarding the Chinese characters, which are applicable also to the picture-writing of the North American Indians, and indeed to that of all peoples among whom it has been cultivated:

The use of simple natural shapes, such as the mouth, nose, eye,
ear, hand, foot, as well as the shape of branches, trees, grass,
caves, holes, rivers, the bow, the spear, the knife, the tablet, the
leaf--these formed, in addition to pictures of animals, much of the
staple of Chinese ideographs.

Attention should be drawn to the fact that the mouth and the
hand play an exceptionally important part in the formation of the
symbols.

Men were more accustomed then than now to the language of signs
by the use of these organs. Perhaps three-twentieths of the existing
characters are formed by their help as one element.

This large use of the mouth and hand in forming characters is,
as we may very reasonably suppose, only a repetition of what took
place when the words themselves were made.

There is likely to be a primitive connection between
demonstratives and names for the hand, because the hand is used in
pointing.

Fig. 983 is a copy of a colored petroglyph on a rock in the valley of Tule river, California, further described on page 52, et seq., supra.

_a_, a person weeping. The eyes have lines running down to the breast, below the ends of which are three short lines on either side. The arms and hands are in the exact position for making the gesture for rain. See _h_ in Fig. 999, meaning eye-rain, and also Fig. 1002. It was probably the intention of the artist to show that the hands in this gesture should be passed downward over the face, as probably suggested by the short lines upon the lower end of the tears. It is evident that sorrow is portrayed.

_b_, _c_, _d_, six persons apparently making the gesture for “hunger” by passing the hands towards and backward from the sides of the body, suggesting a gnawing sensation. The person, _d_, shown in a horizontal position, may possibly denote a “dead man,” dead of starvation, this position being adopted by the Ojibwa, Blackfeet, and others as a common device to represent a dead body. The varying lengths of head ornaments denote different degrees of status as warriors or chiefs.

_e_, _f_, _g_, _h_, _i_. Human forms of various shapes making gestures for negation, or more specifically “nothing, nothing here,” a natural and universal gesture made by throwing one or both hands outward toward either side of the body. The hands are extended, and, to make the action apparently more emphatic, the extended toes are also shown on _e_, _f_, _g_, and _i_. The several lines upon the leg of _i_ probably indicate trimmings upon the leggings.

The character at _j_ is strikingly similar to the Alaskan pictographs (see _b_ of Fig. 460), indicating self with the right hand, and the left pointing away, signifying to go.

_k._ An ornamented head with body and legs. It may refer to a Shaman, the head being similar to the representations of such personages by the Ojibwa and Iroquois.

Similar drawings occur at a distance of about 10 miles southeast of this locality as well as at other places toward the northwest, and it appears probable that the pictograph was made by a portion of a tribe which had advanced for the purpose of selecting a new camping place, but failed to find the quantities of food necessary for sustenance, and therefore erected this notice to inform their followers of their misfortune and determined departure toward the northwest. It is noticeable that the picture is so placed upon the rock that the extended arm of _j_ points toward the north.

The following examples are selected from a large number that could be used to illustrate those gesture signs known to be included in pictographs. Others not referred to in this place may readily be noticed in several parts of the present paper where they appear under other headings.

Fig. 984.--Afraid-of-him. Red-Cloud’s Census. The following is the description of a common gesture sign used by the Dakotas for afraid, fear, coward:

Crook the index, close the other fingers, and, with its back upward, draw the right hand backward about a foot, from 18 inches in front of the right breast. Conception, “Drawing back.”

Fig. 985.--Afraid-of-him. Red-Cloud’s Census. This is obviously the same device without clear depiction of the arm, which is explained by the preceding.

Fig. 986.--Little-Chief. Red-Cloud’s Census. A typical gesture sign for chief is as follows:

Raise the forefinger, pointed upwards, in a vertical direction and then reverse both finger and motion; the greater the elevation the “bigger” the chief. In this case the elevation above the head is slight, so the chief is “little.”

Fig. 987.--The Dakotas went out in search of the Crows in order to avenge the death of Broken-Leg-Duck. They did not find any Crows, but, chancing on a Mandan village, captured it and killed all the people in it. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1787-’88.

The mark on the tipi is not the representation of a hatchet or tomahawk, but is explained by the gesture sign for “hit by a bullet from a gun,” made by the Dakotas as follows:

With the hands in the position of the completion of the sign for discharge of a gun, draw the right hand back from the left, that is, in toward the body; close all the fingers except the index, which is extended, horizontal, back toward the right, pointing straight outward, and is pushed forward against the center of the stationary left hand with a quick motion. Conception, “Bullet comes to a stop. It struck.”

Fig. 988.--The first stock cattle were issued to them. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1875-’76. The figure represents a cow surrounded by people. A common gesture sign distinguishing the cattle brought by Europeans from the buffalo is as follows:

Make sign for buffalo, then extend the left forefinger and draw the extended index across it repeatedly at different places. Literally, spotted buffalo.

Fig. 989.--Kills-two. Red-Cloud’s Census. In this figure only the suggestion of number is in point. Two fingers are extended.

Fig. 990.--Four Crow Indians killed by the Minneconjou Dakotas. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1864-’65.

The four heads and necks are shown. The pictograph shows the tribe of the conquerors and not that of the victims. The gesture sign for Dakota is as follows:

Forefinger and thumb of right hand extended (others closed) are drawn from left to right across the throat as though cutting it. The Dakotas have been named the “cut-throats” by some of the surrounding tribes.

Fig. 991.--Noon. Red-Cloud’s Census. A Dakotan gesture sign for noon is as follows:

Make a circle with the thumb and index for sun, and then hold the hand overhead, the outer edge uppermost.

Fig. 992.--Hard. Red-Cloud’s Census. This is the representation of a stone hammer and coincides with the Dakotan gesture sign for hard as follows:

Same as the sign for stone, which is: With the back of the arched right hand strike repeatedly in the palm of the left, held horizontal, back outward, at the height of the breast and about a foot in front; the ends of the fingers point in opposite directions. Refers to the time when the stone hammer was the hardest pounding instrument the Indians knew.

Fig. 993.--Little-Sun. Red-Cloud’s Census. The moon is expressed both in gestural and oral language as sun-little.

Fig. 994.--Old-Cloud. Red-Cloud’s Census. Cloud is drawn in blue in the original; old is signified by drawing a staff in the hand of the man. The Dakotan gesture for old is described as follows:

With the right hand held in front of right side of body, as though grasping the head of a walking-stick, describe the forward arch movement, as though a person walking was using it for support. “Decrepit age dependent on a staff.”

Fig. 995.--Call-for. Red-Cloud’s Census. The gesture for come or to call to one’s self is shown in this figure. This is similar to that prevalent among Europeans, and so requires no explanation.

Fig. 996.--The-Wise-Man was killed by enemies.

Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1797-’98. The following gesture sign explains this figure:

Touch the forehead with the right index and then make the sign for big directly in front of it. Conception, “Big brain.”

In this as in other delineations of gesture the whole of the sign could not be expressed, but only that part of it which might seem to be the most suggestive.

Fig. 997 is taken from the winter count of Battiste Good and is drawn to represent the sign for pipe, which it is intended to signify. The sign is made by placing the right hand near the upper portion of the breast, the left farther forward, and both held so that the index and thumb approximate a circle, as if holding a pipe-stem. The remaining fingers are closed.

The point of interest in this character is that, instead of drawing a pipe, the artist drew a human figure making the sign for pipe, showing the intimate connection between gesture-signs and pictographs. The pipe, in this instance, was the symbol of peace.

Fig. 998.--Mahpiya-wakita, Searches-the-Heavens; from the Oglala Roster. The cloud is drawn in blue, the searching being derived from the expression of that idea in gesture by passing the extended index of one hand (or both) forward from the eye, then from right to left, as if indicating various uncertain localities before the person, i. e., searching for something. The lines from the eyes are in imitation of this gesture.

WATER.

The Chinese character for to give water is _a_, in Fig. 999, which may be compared with the common Indian gesture to drink, to give water, viz: “Hand held with the tips of fingers brought together and passed to the mouth, as if scooping up water” (see Fig. 1000), obviously from primitive custom, as with Mojaves, who still drink with scooped hands, throwing the water to the mouth.

Another common Indian gesture sign for water to drink--I want to drink--is: “Hand brought downward past the mouth with loosely extended fingers, palm toward the face.” This appears in the Mexican character for drink, _b_, in Fig. 999, taken from Pipart (_a_). Water, i. e., the pouring out of water with the drops falling or about to fall, is shown in Fig. 999, _c_, taken from the same author (_b_), being the same arrangement of them as in the Indian gesture-sign for rain, shown in Fig. 1002, the hand, however, being inverted. Rain in the Mexican picture-writing is sometimes shown by small circles inclosing a dot, as in the last two designs, but not connected together, each having a short line upward marking the line of descent. Several other pictographs for rain are given below.

With the gesture sign for drink may be compared Fig. 1001, the Egyptian goddess Nu in the sacred sycamore tree, pouring out the water of life to the Osirian and his soul represented as a bird, in Amenti, from a funereal stelē in Cooper’s Serpent Myths (_b_).

The common Indian gesture for river or stream--water--is made by passing the horizontal flat hand, palm down, forward and to the left from the right side in a serpentine manner.

The Egyptian character for the same is _d_ in Fig. 999, taken from Champollion’s Dictionary (_b_). The broken line is held to represent the movement of the water on the surface of the stream. When made with one line less angular and more waving it means water. It is interesting to compare with this the identical character in the syllabary invented by a West African negro, Mormoru Doalu Bukere, for water, _e_, in Fig. 999, mentioned by Dr. Tylor (_b_).

The abbreviated Egyptian sign for water as a stream is _f_, in Fig. 999, taken from Champollion, loc. cit., and the Chinese for the same is as in _g_, same figure.

In the picture writing of the Ojibwa the Egyptian abbreviated character, with two lines instead of three, appears with the same signification.

The Egyptian character for weep, _h_, in Fig. 999, i. e., an eye with tears falling, is also found in the pictographs of the Ojibwa, published by Schoolcraft (_o_), and is also made by the Indian gesture of drawing lines by the index repeatedly downward from the eye, though perhaps more frequently made by the full sign for rain--made with the back of the hand downward from the eye--“eye rain.” The sign is as follows, as made by the Shoshoni, Apache, and other Indians: Hold the hand (or hands) at the height of and before the shoulder, fingers pendent, palm down, then push it downward a short distance, as shown in Fig. 1002. That for heat is the same, with the difference that the hand is held above the head and thrust downward toward the forehead; that for to weep is made by holding the hand as in rain, and the gesture made from the eye downward over the cheek, back of the fingers nearly touching the face.

The upper design in Fig. 1003, taken from the manuscript catalogue of T.V. Keam, is water wrought into a meandering device, which is the conventional generic sign of the Hopitus. The two forefingers are joined as in the lower design in the same figure.

In relation to the latter, Mr. Keam says: “At the close of the religious festivals the participants join in a parting dance called the ‘dance of the linked finger.’ They form a double line, and crossing their arms in front of them they lock the forefingers of either hand with those of their neighbors, in both lines, which are thus interlocked together, and then dance, still interlocked by this emblematic grip, singing their parting song. The meandering designs are emblems of this friendly dance.”

CHILD.

The Arapaho sign for _child_, _baby_, is the forefinger in the mouth, i. e., a nursing child, and a natural sign of a deaf-mute is the same. The Egyptian figurative character for the same is seen in Fig. 1004 _a_. Its linear form is _b_, same figure, and its hieratic is _c_, Champollion (_c_).

These afford an interpretation to the ancient Chinese form for _son_, _d_ in same figure, given in Journ. Royal Asiatic Society, I, 1834, p. 219, as belonging to the Shang dynasty, 1756-1112 B. C., and the modern Chinese form, _e_, which, without the comparison, would not be supposed to have any pictured reference to an infant with hand or finger at or approaching the mouth, denoting the taking of nourishment. Having now suggested this, the Chinese character for _birth_, _f_ in same figure, is understood as a parallel expression of a common gesture among the Indians, particularly reported from the Dakota, for _born_, _to be born_; viz, place the left hand in front of the body a little to the right, the palm, downward and slightly arched, then pass the extended right hand downward, forward, and upward, forming a short curve underneath the left, as in Fig. 1005 _a_. This is based upon the curve followed by the head of the child during birth, and is used generically. The same curve, when made with one hand, appears in Fig. 1005 _b_.

It may be of interest to compare with the Chinese _child_ the Mexican abbreviated character for _man_, Fig. 1004 _g_, found in Pipart (_c_). The character on the right is called the abbreviated form of the one by its side.

The Chinese character for _man_ is Fig. 1004 _h_, and may have the same obvious conception as a Dakota sign for the same signification: “Place the extended index pointing upward and forward before the lower portion of the abdomen.”

A typical sign made by the Indians for _no_, _negation_, is as follows:

The hand extended or slightly curved is held in front of the body, a little to the right of the median line; it is then carried with a rapid sweep a foot or more farther to the right.

The sign for _none_, _nothing_, sometimes used for simple negation, is made by throwing both hands outward from the breast toward their respective sides.

With these compare the two forms of the Egyptian character for no, negation, the two upper characters of Fig. 1006 taken from Champollion (_d_). No vivid fancy is needed to see the hands indicated at the extremities of arms extended symmetrically from the body on each side.

Also compare the Maya character for the same idea of negation, the lowest character of Fig. 1006, found in Landa (_a_). The Maya word for negation is “_ma_,” and the word “_mak_,” a six-foot measuring rod, given by Brasseur de Bourbourg in his dictionary, apparently having connection with this character, would in use separate the hands as illustrated, giving the same form as the gesture made without the rod.

Another sign for _nothing_, _none_, made by the Comanche is: Flat hand thrown forward, back to the ground, fingers pointing forward and downward. Frequently the right hand is brushed over the left thus thrown out.

Compare the Chinese character for the same meaning, the upper character of Fig. 1007. This will not be recognized as a hand without study of similar characters, which generally have a cross-line cutting off the wrist. Here the wrist bones follow under the crosscut, then the metacarpal bones, and last the fingers, pointing forward and downward.

Leon de Rosny (_a_) gives the second and third characters in Fig. 1007 as the Babylonian glyphs for “hand,” the upper being the later and the lower the archaic form.

Fig. 1008 is reproduced from an ivory drill-bow (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 24543) from Norton sound, Alaska. The figure represents the gesture sign or signal of discovery. In this instance the game consists of whales, and the signal is made by holding the boat paddle aloft and horizontally.

Fig. 1009, reproduced from Fig. 365, p. 308, Sixth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, is a copy of Pl. 53 of the Dresden Codex, and is a good example of the use of gestures in the Maya graphic system. The main figure in the upper division of the plate, probably that of a deity or ruler, holds his right hand raised to the level of the head, with the index prominently separated from the other fingers. This is the first part of a sign common to several of the Indian tribes of North America and signifies affirmation or assent. The Indians close the fingers other than the index more decidedly than in the plate and, after the hand has reached its greatest height, shake it forward and down, but these details, which indeed are not essential, could not well be indicated pictorially. The human figure in the lower division is kneeling and holds both hands easily extended before the body, palms down and index fingers straight, parallel, and separated from the other fingers, which are flexed or closed. This in its essentials is a common Indian gesture sign for “the same,” “similar,” and also for “companion.” A sign nearly identical is used by the Neapolitans to mean “union” or “harmony.” If the two divisions of the plate are supposed to be connected, it might be inferred through the principles of gesture language that the kneeling man was praying to the seated personage for admission to his favor and companionship, and that the latter was responding by a dignified assent.

Dr. S. Habel (_e_) thus describes Fig. 1010, a sculpture in Guatemala:

The upper half represents the head, arms, and part of the breast
of a deity, apparently of advanced age, as indicated by the wrinkles
in the face. The right arm is bent at the elbow, the finger tips of
the outstretched hand apparently touching the region of the heart;
the left upper arm is drawn up, the elbow being almost as high as
the shoulder, and the fore arm and hand hanging at nearly right
angles. From the head and neck issue winding staves, to which not
only knots or nodes are attached, but also variously-shaped leaves,
buds, flowers, and fruits. Apparently these are symbols of speech,
replacing our letters and expressing the mandate of the deity.

The lower part represents an erect human figure with the face
turned up toward the deity imploring, and from the mouth emanates
a staff with nodes variously arranged. The appeal is still
further intensified by the raising of the right hand and arm. A
human head partly covers the head of the figure, from which hang
variously-shaped ribbons, terminating in the body and tail of a
fish. Above the right wrist is a double bracelet, apparently formed
of small square stones. The left hand is covered, gauntlet-like,
by a human skull, and the wrist is ornamented by a double scaly
bracelet. The waist is encircled by a stiff projecting girdle, which
differs from the general style of this ornament by having attached
to it on the side a human head, with another human head suspended
from it. From the front of the girdle emanate four lines, which
ascend towards the deity, uniting at the top. They seem to symbolize
the emotions of the person, not expressed by words. From behind the
image issue flames.