Fig. 214.
Fig. 214 is an Ojibwa pictograph found in Schoolcraft, I, pl. 58, and given as power. It corresponds with the sign for doctor, or medicine-man, made by the Absarokas by passing the extended and separated index and second finger of the right hand upward from the forehead, spirally, and is considered to indicate “superior knowledge.” Among the Otos, as part of the sign with the same meaning, both hands are raised to the side of the head, and the extended indices pressing the temples.
Fig. 215.
Fig. 215 is also an Ojibwa pictograph from Schoolcraft I, pl. 59, and is said to signify Meda’s power. It corresponds with another sign made for medicine-man by the Absarokas and Comanches, viz, The hand passed upward before the forehead, with index loosely extended. Combined with the sign for sky, before given, page 372, it means knowledge of superior matters; spiritual power.
The common sign for trade is made by extending the forefingers, holding them obliquely upward, and crossing them at right angles to one another, usually in front of the chest. This is often abbreviated by merely crossing the forefingers, see [Fig. 278], page 452. It is illustrated in Fig. 216, taken from the Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, London, 1843, p. 352.
