Pass the open right hand outward from the small of the back. (Wied.) This, as explained by Indians lately examined, indicates the lighter coloration upon the animal’s flanks. A Ute who could speak Spanish accompanied it with the word blanco, as if recognizing that it required explanation.
With the index only extended, hold the hand eighteen or twenty inches transversely in front of the head, index pointing to the left, then rub the sides of the body with the flat hands. (Cheyenne IV; Dakota VI.) “The latter sign refers to the white sides of the animal; the former could not be explained.”
Extend and separate the forefingers and thumbs, nearly close all the other fingers, and place the hands with backs outward above and a little in front of the ears, about four inches from the head, and shake them back and forth several times. Antelope’s horns. This is an Arapaho sign. (Dakota I, II, IV.)
Fig. 234.
Close the right hand, leaving the end of the index in the form of a hook, and the thumb extended as in Fig. 234; then wave the hand quickly back and forth a short distance, opposite the temple. (Hidatsa I; Arikara I.) “Represents the pronged horn of the animal. This is the sign ordinarily used, but it was noticed that in conversing with one of the Dakotas the sign of the latter (Dakota VI) was used several times, to be more readily understood.”
Place both hands, fingers fully extended and spread, close to the sides of the head. Wied’s sign was readily understood as signifying the white flanks. (Apache I.)
In connection with the above signs Fig. 235 is presented, which was drawn by Running Antelope, an Uncpapa Dakota, as his personal totem, or proper name.