TO S ALT di AM 0 M k it IV 4 01 1 10 0 n WW W CA f W T t IA k S 4 c f ik J 71 f 1 I MR 1 1 L r r cap ra uy F 4 4 1 l lf aa N 3 0 A v ci V C r lu I 1 A I 1 M 4 0 X 1 or i or mj kigay 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON AE indi indian an sign language which Is 13 rapidly becoming n lost art As is tile the old time indians pass away ans Is to be preserved ved for rv future generations if congress W 4 passes a bill introduced recently w 0 1 by y representative leavitt of Alon montana tana chairman of the indian dian affairs committee in the hour e the bill asks for an appropriation atlon to make a permanent record of this language and representative leavitt has suggested that gen hugh L scott retired who has been a student of tile the indian sign language since ills graduation from west point in 1870 and who Is one of the few white men who ever eer mastered its intricacies Is the ono one man liv ing today who Is best fitted to handle this work the indian sign language Is unique among methods of communication between human beings the white man has invented a deaf and dumb alphabet of more or less arbitrary sort which Is practicable tor for the communication of ideas but which must be learned by intellectual application and by a recollection of certain shapes of the fin gets gers which mean letters and thus spell out words but that was not the red mans way ile he thought in pictography pictographs just ns as lie he wrote in pictography pictographs end and each of his signs was a whole word or a dds sentence or it a complete thought it was old od jim baker the famous trapper fur trader and guide who once slid said an injun will tell a iong ion story atory in fo four ur grunts and the rest with his fengers and that expresses it about as well as the statement by the bureau of american ethnology experts that A sioux or a blackfoot from the upper missouri has no difficulty in com comment comm munt eating cating with a visiting alowa or comanche from the texas border on any subject froni from the negotiating of a treaty to the recital of a mythic story or the telling of a hunting incident an interesting example of the efficiency of the sign language Is related by general scott in his book some memories of a soldier published recently by the century company aliu chief joseph of the nez perces was being carried down the missouri to bismarck N D as a prisoner of war after his surrender in the lear bear paws moun bains in montana in a crowd or of more than 1500 indians gathered to see such a famous chief joseph addressed them in the sign language and recounting the whole story of his peoples wrongs wrong 3 be made ills his meaning me dear clear to all these people who spoke eight different languages nez kez perces forces sioux cheyenne crow Arl kara mandan gros groi ventre and english even more interesting was wa the incident which took place in 1925 in which general scott himself figured at the old fort union celebration in montana in that year there was n big gathering of indians which general scott addressed using the sign language thirteen dir different terent tribes were represented in ills his audi ence and every member of every tribe understood everything he said I 1 generel general scotts name ninon among the indians Is mole to tc qu op the man ilan who talks with ills his nanda or sign taller talker it was given to him by big wolf a cheyenne Clie enne chief in I 1 1890 when nhen scott was sent among the in montana to quiet the ghost dance excitement there but his proficiency in the sign language dates bark back further than that soon after his from west point he be was assigned to the ninth cavalry aaa 4 WARRIOR S three jilin ian buace words aboe beaw at the left arse and below but obtained a transfer to tile seventh which lind been all but wiped out in the battle of the little nig big horn at about the time of ills graduation with the seventh lie ho served in the remainder of the sioux campaign in 1876 77 and then in the nez perces war in 1877 early in ills his career on the plains scott recognized that one way to solve the indian problem was to try to get the indian point of view and in order to do that lie ho had to learn to speak their language obviously it would be a lifetime job to learn the tongues of nil the tribes but the intertribal language the sign language offered a short cut and lie he set himself to learn that lie ile was fortunate in gaining tile tho friendship of a remarkable indian I see 0 of the klowas who became the guide philosopher and friend of the young cavalry lieutenant and also his instructor to in the intricacies of the sign language doth both I see 0 and scott were fighting men but they wore were also both peacemakers peace makers and they worked together in bringing about a better understanding between the two to races in fact general scott Is better known for his diplomatic victories which settled many troubles with the indians than lie Is as the greatest white exponent of the sign language but it was his knowledge of the sign language which helped him in winning those victories an example of that Is shown in his interview with red cloud the great chief of the oglala sioux general scott tells about it as follows going up to red clouds village on white clay cla creek I 1 noticed ugly signs red hed cloud was waa said mid to have five thousand young men many recently from the bo hostile stile village and I 1 could see that they were in a v very ery ugly mood I 1 could fee trouble in the air there was no interpreter with the command when one was needed most nor tiny any indian when the head of the column stopped at ned lied clouds lodge they sent back in the column I 1 for or me ned hed cloud wan in a R must surly mood there he stood in the presence of 0 eleven troops of cavalry and boldly asked what do you come looking fot hero here my aly young men dont want you here if you come came here looking for a right fight try my young men wal w II 11 fl ht you if you dont want to fight you g gi home it was a good deal of responsibility to throw on a young man haq I 1 not only had to net act as interpreter and extricate the commanding com mandine 0 officer 1 from the tense genao situation but must still preserve his dignity fortunately I 1 succeeded we went a days march away to camp and J was sent back bach to live in red clouds lodge for or a few days to keep tab on what he was doing in blanc are aie always hospitality itself and he badt me welcome in his lodge I 1 stayed there three nights nig his watching red cloud was an excellent sign talker but he be made his gestures differently from anyone I 1 hart had ever seen before or since while each was perfectly distinct they were nil all made within the compass 0 of r a circle a foot in diameter whereas th are usually mado made in the compass of a circle two and a half feet in diameter we talked about ev under the sun eun but he would not give me any clew to what made him so ill humored and to what was actuating hla young men the re remarkable markab le thing about tills this Is that the young officer knew that lied cloud was holding back something because lie canse his sign talk swung only in a n diameter of a foot foci instead of in the large open gestures within ft a circle two and one half feet in diameter knowing that he fie was able to get at the heart of the matter smooth down tho the irate chief and perhaps saved many lives both white and red through his intimate knowledge of the sign language of the origin and development of the sign ian language general scott says whenever persons of alien speech encounter others with whom they cannot communicate they first endeavor to make themselves understood by raising the voice when this proves inadequate they stage it a little drama or pantomime by gestures that will ivill serve to put their idea into the minds of others by the imitation of acts or qualities it if this pantomime proves apt and easily understood der stood in the two alien groups it would be used again on meeting other groups the tha signs acting and reacting on each other for or ages the fittest only surviving until the language had spread and become stabilized over all the plains the habitat of the burtalo bul Talo long before the arrival of europeans on this continent the sign language obeys all the general laws 0 of linguistic science save those of sound it appeals to the same human brain through the eye rather than through the ear it Is therefore akin to au all human tongues and has its own place in tho the hierarchy ot of all the languages of the human race the indian seizes the most salient qualities to give an object a name and you will bo be surprised at the aptness and skill with which they pick out these qualities the law ot of the sign language la is to give a name that belongs to something and to nothing else of some of the commoner symbols in the sign language james mooney of the bureau of amerlean american ethnology writing in the I handbook of Arneil american can indians says the signs in every case are founded on some tangible or symbolic characteristic all although hough by abbreviation or wearing down as in a spoken language the resemblance has frequently been obscured and conventionalized thus the sign tor for man Is made by throwing out the hand bade back outward with index finger extended upward apparently having reference to rn mi old root word ward in many indian languages which defines man as aa an erect animal woman Is indicated by a sweeping downward movement of the hand at the side bide of the head with fingers extended toward the hair to denoto denote lonk long flowing hair or the combing of flowing locks A white man Is distinguished as the hot hat wearer either by drawing the index finger across the forehead or by clasping CIRS ping the forehead with outstretched thumb and index finger for indian the speaker rubs the back of his left hand or perhaps his cheek with the palm of the right to indicate a person whose skin Is of the lie same came color the sign having obtained this conventional meaning may be used equally by a white man to convey the same idea A tepee Is fit shown by bringing both index fingers together like an inverted V to indicate the conical shape and tho crossing of the poles an ordinary house would bo be distinguished by adding the sign for white man the buffalo and in later days ays a cow Is indicated by crooking brooking cro oking the index fingers at the side of the head to a horn A dog Is indicated by drawing the hand with first and second fingers spread apart across acres in front of the body typifying the old time travola travels dragged by the animal when used as a beast of burden eating and drIn drinking hing arc aro Indicated by signs easily ily intelligible sleeping Is indicated by fri clining the heat bead to one side with the open palm held juba below typifying the recumbent attitude of depoe As days or rather nights are counted by sleeps the same sign may mean a day when used in connection with enumeration indicated by the motion of counting upon the fingers in the same came way cold la is indicated by a shivering movement of the clenched handa bands in front of the body and as inda nna itris count years by winters or cold seasons it sIgni signifies fles also rl a year in another context the hand upright and turned upon the wrist with fingers apart and extended indicates the question sign arki a somewhat similar but slower gesture means vacal aaion I 1 e may be to action the question how old are you becomes 1 point finger at subject you 2 cold sign winter or year 3 counting number 4 question sign how many an expert can go through the whole movement in about the time required to put the spoken question with the advantage that he can be understood by an indian of any language from canada to texas some signs are beautifully symbolic thus fa tigue la Is shown by a downward and outward sweep cheep ot of the two h hands ads in front of the body index fin gern gera extended giving a gesture picture of utter collapse cad bad Is 19 indicated by it a motion throwing away truth by signs for straight talk and falsehood by the talk sign with another tor for differ different etil directions 1 t talking two ways way