[Illustration:  Fig. 217.]

Fig. 217 is from Kingsborough, III, pt. 1, p. 25, and illustrates the sign for to give or to present, made by the Brule-Dakotas by holding both hands edgewise before the breast, pointing forward and upward, the right above the left, then throwing them quickly downward until the forearms reach a horizontal position.

[Illustration:  Fig. 218.]

Fig. 218 is taken from the Dakota Calendar, representing a successful raid of the Absarokas or Crows upon the Brule-Sioux, in which the village of the latter was surprised and a large number of horses captured.  That capture is exhibited by the horse-tracks moving from the village, the gesture sign for which is often made by a circle formed either by the opposed thumbs and forefingers of both hands or by a circular motion of both hands, palms inward, toward each other.  In some cases there is a motion of the circle, from above downward, as formed.

[Illustration:  Fig. 219.]

Fig. 219, from Kingsborough I, pt. 3, p. 10, represents Chapultepec, “Mountain of the Locust,” by one enormous locust on top of a hill.  This shows the mode of augmentation in the same manner as is often done by an exaggerated gesture.  The curves at the base of the mountain are intelligible only as being formed in the sign for many, described on pages 359 and 488.

Fig. 220, taken from Pipart, loc. cit., is the Mexican pictograph for soil cultivated, i.e., tilled and planted.  Fig. 221, from the same authority, shows the sprouts coming from the cultivated soil, and may be compared with the signs for grass and grow on page 343.

[Illustration:  Fig. 220.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 221.]

The gesture sign for road, path, is sometimes made by indicating two lines forward from the body, then imitating walking with the hands upon the imaginary road.  The same natural representation of road is seen in Fig. 222, taken from Pipart, loc. cit., page 352.  A place where two roads meet—­cross-roads—­is shown in Fig. 223, from Kingsborough.  Two persons are evidently having a chat in sign language at the cross-roads.

[Illustration:  Fig. 222.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 223.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 224.]

If no gesture is actually included in all of the foregoing pictographs, it is seen that a gesture sign is made with the same conception which is obvious in the ideographic pictures.  They are selected as specially transparent and clear.  Many others less distinct are now the subject of examination for elucidation.  The following examples are added to show the ideographic style of pictographs not connected with gestures, lest it may be suspected that an attempt is made to prove that gestures are always included in or connected with them.  Fig. 224, from the Dakota Calendar, refers to the small-pox which broke out in the year (1802) which it specifies.  Fig. 225 shows in the design at the left, a warning or notice, that though a goat can climb up the rocky trail a horse will tumble—­“No Thoroughfare.”  This was contributed by Mr. J.K.  Hillers, photographer of the United States Geological Survey, as observed by him in Canon De Chelly, New Mexico, in 1880.