Place the extended and separated fingers rapidly with a slapping sound astraddle the extended fore and second fingers of the left hand. The sound is produced by the palm of the right hand which comes in contact with the upper surface of the left. (Ute I.) Fig. 267.
——, Spotted; pied.
Make the sign for Horse, then the sign for Spotted, see page 345. (Dakota IV.)
Kill, Killing.
The hands are held with the edge upward, and the right hand strikes the other transversely, as in the act of chopping. This sign seems to be more particularly applicable to convey the idea of death produced by a blow of the tomahawk or war-club. (Long.)
Clinch the hand and strike from above downward. (Wied.) I do not remember this. I have given you the sign for killing with a stroke. (Matthews.) There is an evident similarity in conception and execution between the (Oto and Missouri I) sign and Wied’s. (Boteler.) I have frequently seen this sign made by the Arikara, Gros Ventre, and Mandan Indians at Fort Berthold Agency. (McChesney.) This motion, which maybe more clearly expressed as the downward thrust of a knife held in the clinched hand, is still used by many tribes for the general idea of “kill,” and illustrates the antiquity of the knife as a weapon. Wied does not say whether the clinched hand is thrust downward with the edge or the knuckles forward. The latter is now the almost universal usage among the same tribes from which he is supposed to have taken his list of signs, and indicates the thrust of a knife more decisively than if the fist were moved with the edge in advance. The actual employment of arrow, gun, or club in taking life, is, however, often specified by appropriate gesture.
Smite the sinister palm earthward with the dexter fist sharply, in sign of “going down”; or strike out with the dexter fist toward the ground, meaning to “shut down”; or pass the dexter under the left forefinger, meaning to “go under.” (Burton.)
Right hand cast down. (Macgowan.)
