72. Knife: Cut past the mouth with the raised right hand.—This clearly refers to the general practice of cutting off food, as much being crammed into the mouth as can be managed and then separated by a stroke of a knife from the remaining mass. This is specially the case with fat entrails, the aboriginal delicacies. (G. S. 160.)
73. Fire: Hold the fingers of the right hand slightly opened and upward, and elevate the hand several times.—This portrays the forked tongues of the flames rising. (G. S. 109.)
74. Water: Same as "river."
75. Smoke: Snuffle the nose and raise the fingers of both hands several times, rubbing the fingers against each other.—The rubbing may indicate the former mode of obtaining fire by friction, accompanied with smoke, which is further indicated by the wrinkled nose. (G. S. 240.)
76. Partisan: First make the sign of the pipe, then open the thumb and index-finger of the right hand, back of the hand outward, move it forward and upward in a curve.—By the title of "partisan" the author meant, as indeed was the common expression of the Canadian voyageurs, a leader of an occasional or volunteer war party. The sign is explained by his account in a different connection, that to become recognized as a leader of such a war party, the first act among the tribes using the sign was the consecration, by fasting succeeded by feasting, of a medicine pipe without ornament, which the leader of the expedition afterward bore with him as his badge of authority, and it therefore naturally became an emblematic sign. There may be interest in noting that the "Calendar of the Dakota Nation" (Bulletin U. S. G. and G. Survey, vol. iii, No. 1) gives a figure (No. 43, A. D. 1842) showing "One Feather," a Sioux chief, who raised in that year a large war party against the Crows, which fact is simply denoted by his holding out, demonstratively, an unornamented pipe. (G. S. 53.)
77. Chief: Raise the index-finger of the right hand, holding it straight upward, then turn it in a circle, and bring it straight down a little toward the earth.—If this gesture is accurately described by the author, its conception may be "elevated in the midst of surrounding inferiors." In view, however, of the fact that Indians now make a forward curve instead of a horizontal circle, the former instead of the latter may have been intended in the curt expression. The prevailing delineation of the superior authority of the chiefs is by superior height, one form of which is reported as follows: Right forearm nearly vertical, index extended, thumb and other fingers closed, nails toward cheek and about eight inches from it. Extend right arm vertically about eight inches; turn index as an arrow turns in the air and bring down in front of face between the eyes until about opposite the chin. (G. S. 51; S. L. 19.)
78. White man, American: Place the open index-finger and thumb of the right hand toward the face, then pass it to the right in front of the forehead to indicate the hat. The fist can also be used in same way. (G. S. 283.)
79. Negro: First make the sign for white man, then rub the hair on the right side of the head with the flat hand.—The present common sign for "black" is to rub or touch the hair, which, among Indians, is almost universally of that color. (G. S. 186.)
80. Fool: Place the hand in front of the head, back outward, then turn it round in a circle several times. (G. S. 112.)
81. Scalp: Grasp the hair with the left hand, and with the right one flattened cut away over the left. (G. S. 228.)