FOOTNOTES:
[270] In the original German edition, the first paragraph and its accompanying note (270) form the only introduction to Maximilian's account of the Indian sign language. As this account had already been Englished by an expert in this field, the late Colonel Garrick Mallery, I have adopted the latter's version, found in his "Sign Language of the Indians of the Upper Missouri in 1832," in American Antiquarian, ii (Chicago, 1879-80), pp. 218-228. Mallery's version was also incorporated in his "Collection of Gesture-Signs and Signals of the North American Indians with some Comparisons" (Washington: Bureau of Ethnology, 1880). A few of the descriptions are also referred to in his "Introduction to the Study of Sign Language among the North American Indians, as illustrating the Gesture Speech of Mankind," published in the same year by the Bureau of Ethnology. The opinion of Maximilian's work entertained by so eminent an authority as Colonel Mallery is of course interesting and valuable, and it has seemed proper to reprint here the pertinent part of his introduction to the American Antiquarian article. This introduction will also be found in substance in his "Gesture-Signs" and "Sign Language," cited above. Reference to the pages in the "Gesture-Signs" (G. S.) and in the "Sign Language" (S. L.), where each description is given, are here indicated in parentheses.—Trans.
[271] Dr. Mitchell (Warden, American Antiquities, p. 179) has a very incorrect conception of the Indians, if he believes that they ordinarily communicate by means of signs. The signs are used only when a person does not wish to be heard, or when he is addressing people of other nations. According to Dunbar (ibid., p. 176) this sign language agrees with the Chinese letters; but I do not understand what is meant by this statement.—Maximilian.
Comment by Ed. For Warden, see our volume xxii, p. 149, note 63. Samuel L. Mitchell (1764-1831) was known as the "Nestor of American Science." His learning was encyclopædic; he belonged to many scientific societies both in America and Europe. For Sir William Dunbar, see our volume iv, p. 325, note 209.
[272] The first two lists mentioned by Mallery are: that of William Dunbar, American Philosophical Society, Transactions, vi; and the one, probably by T. Say, in James's Long's Expedition, in our volume xvii, pp. 289-308.—Ed.
[273] Mallery (G. S. 11) says that from the time and attention which Maximilian gave to the Mandans and Hidatsa, it may be safe to conclude that all these signs were actually obtained from them.—Ed.