; the two others, a weasel (_Mustela
Canadensis_) and an otter. The writer offers in exchange for the
skins of these animals (probably meaning that of a white buffalo) the
articles which he has drawn on the left side of the cross. He has, in
the first place, depicted a beaver very plainly, behind which there
is a gun; to the left of the beaver are thirty strokes, each ten
separated by a longer line; this means, I will give thirty beaver
skins and a gun for the skins of the three animals on the right hand
of the cross."

[Illustration: Fig. 217.]

Fig. 217 is from Kingsborough, III, pt. 1, p. 25, and illustrates
the sign for to _give_ or _to present_, made by the Brule-Dakotas by
holding both hands edgewise before the breast, pointing forward and
upward, the right above the left, then throwing them quickly downward
until the forearms reach a horizontal position.

[Illustration: Fig. 218.]

Fig. 218 is taken from the _Dakota Calendar_, representing a
successful raid of the Absarokas or Crows upon the Brule-Sioux, in
which the village of the latter was surprised and a large number of
horses captured. That capture is exhibited by the horse-tracks moving
from the _village_, the gesture sign for which is often made by a
circle formed either by the opposed thumbs and forefingers of both
hands or by a circular motion of both hands, palms inward, toward
each other. In some cases there is a motion of the circle, from above
downward, as formed.

[Illustration: Fig. 219.]

Fig. 219, from Kingsborough I, pt. 3, p. 10, represents _Chapultepec_,
"Mountain of the Locust," by one enormous locust on top of a hill.
This shows the mode of augmentation in the same manner as is often
done by an exaggerated gesture. The curves at the base of the
mountain are intelligible only as being formed in the sign for _many_,
described on pages 359 and 488.

Fig. 220, taken from Pipart, _loc. cit._, is the Mexican pictograph
for _soil cultivated_, i.e., tilled and planted. Fig. 221, from the
same authority, shows the sprouts coming from the cultivated soil, and
may be compared with the signs for _grass_ and _grow_ on page 343.

[Illustration: Fig. 220.]

[Illustration: Fig. 221.]

The gesture sign for _road, path_, is sometimes made by indicating
two lines forward from the body, then imitating walking with the hands
upon the imaginary road. The same natural representation of road is
seen in Fig. 222, taken from Pipart, _loc. cit._, page 35