For convenience the subject is divided into: 1. Conventional devices. 2. Syllabaries and alphabets.
SECTION 1.
CONVENTIONAL DEVICES.
PEACE.
Among the North American Indians and in several parts of the world where, as among the Indians, the hand-grasp in simple salutation has not been found, the junction of the hands between two persons of different tribes is the ceremonial for union and peace, and the sign for the same concept is exhibited by the two hands of one person similarly grasped as an invitation to, or signification of, union and peace. The ideogram of clasped hands to indicate peace and friendship is found in pictographs from many localities. The exhibition and presentation of the unarmed hand may have affected the practice, but the concept of union by linking is more apparent.
Fig. 1011.
Fig. 1011.—The Dakotas made peace with the Cheyenne Indians. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1840-’41. Here the hands shown with fingers extended, and therefore incapable of grasping a weapon, are approaching each other. The different coloration of the arms indicates different tribes. The device on the right is a rough form of the forearm of the Cheyenne marked as mentioned several times in this work.
Fig. 1012.
Fig. 1012.—The Dakotas made peace with the Pawnees. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1858-’59. The man on the left is a Pawnee.