Fig. 1200.—Talk. Mexican.
The Mexican pictograph, Fig. 1200, taken from Kingsborough (n), is illustrative of the sign made by the Arikara and Hidatsa for “tell” and “conversation.” “Tell me” is: Place the flat right hand, palm upward, about 15 inches in front of the right side of the face, fingers pointing to the left and front; then draw the hand inward toward and against the bottom of the chin. For “conversation,” talking between two persons, both hands are held before the breast, pointing forward, palms up, the edges being moved several times toward one another. Perhaps, however, the picture in fact only means the common poetical image of “flying words.”
Fig. 1201.—Talk. Maya.
Fig. 1201 is from Landa (b) and suggests one of the gestures for “talk,” and more especially that for “sing,” in which the extended and separated fingers are passed forward and slightly downward from the mouth—“many voices.” Although late criticisms of the bishop’s work are unfavorable to its authenticity, yet even if it were prepared by a Maya, under his supervision, the latter would probably have given him some genuine native conceptions, and among them gestures would be likely to occur.
Gustav Eisen (a), in describing Fig. 1202, says:
Fig. 1202.—Talk. Guatemala.
The original, from near Santa Lucia, Guatemala, represents a sepulchral tablet, on which are seen the portraits of perhaps man and wife, their different headdresses, etc., indicating decidedly their different sexes. From the mouths of the respective portraits extend as usual curved figures with notes or nodes.