Fig. 1002.—Gesture for rain.
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.
Fig. 1003.—Water sign. Moki.
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).