Both hands held pointing forward, edges down, fingers extended and slightly separated, then place the fingers of one hand into the spaces between the fingers of the other, allowing the tips of the fingers of either hand to protrude as far as the first joint, or near it. (Shoshoni and Banak I.) “From the appearance of a corner of a log house—protruding and alternate layers of logs.”
Fingers of both hands interlaced at right angles several times; then the sign for Lodge. (Kutchin I.)
Deaf-mute natural signs:
Draw the outlines of a house in the air with hands tip to tip at a right angle. (Ballard.)
Put the open hands together toward the face, forming a right angle with the arms. (Larson.)
——, Stone; Fort.
Strike the back of the right fist against the palm of the left hand, the left palm backward, the fist upright (“idea of resistance or strength”); then with both hands opened, relaxed, horizontal, and palms backward, place the ends of the right fingers behind and against the ends of the left; then separate them, and moving them backward, each through a semicircle, bring their bases together. The latter sign is also that of the Arapahos for house. An inclosure. (Dakota IV.) The first part of this sign is that for stone.
—— Lodge, Tipi, Wigwam.
The two hands are reared together in the form of the roof of a house, the ends of the fingers upward. (Long.)
Place the opened thumb and forefinger of each hand opposite each other, as if to make a circle, but leaving between them a small interval; afterward move them from above downward simultaneously (which is the sign for village); then elevate the finger to indicate the number—one. (Wied.) Probably he refers to an earthen lodge. I think that the sign I have given you is nearly the same with all the Upper Missouri Indians. (Matthews.)