Hold the open left hand a foot or eighteen inches in front of the breast, palm downward or backward, fingers pointing toward the right, and pass the right hand, palm upward, fingers bent sidewise and pointing backward, from before backward underneath it, through a curve until near the mouth.  Some at the same time move the left hand a little forward. (Dakota IV.)

The left hand, palm downward, finger-tips forward, either quite extended or with the fingers slightly bent, is held before the body.  Then the right hand nearly or quite extended, palm downward, finger-tips near the left thumb, and pointing toward it, is passed transversely under the left hand and one to four inches below it.  The fingers of the right hand point slightly upward when the motion is completed.  This sign usually, but not invariably, refers to entering a house. (Mandan and Hidatsa I.)

Place the slightly curved left hand, palm down, before the breast, pointing to the right, then pass the flat right hand, palm down, in a short curve forward, under and upward beyond the left. (Ute I.) “Evidently from the manner in which a person is obliged to stoop in entering an ordinary Indian lodge.”

HORSE.

The right hand with the edge downward, the fingers joined, the thumb recumbent, extended forward. (Dunbar.)

Place the index and middle finger of the right hand astraddle the index finger of the left. [In the original the expression “third” finger is used, but it is ascertained in another connection that the author counts the thumb as the first finger and always means what is generally styled middle finger when he says third.  The alteration is made to prevent confusion.] (Wied.) I have described this sign in words to the same effect. (Matthews.) The right arm is raised, and the hand, opened edgewise, with fingers parallel and approximated, is drawn from left to right before the body at the supposed height of the animal.  There is no conceivable identity in the execution of this sign and Wied’s, but his sign for horse is nearly identical with the sign for ride a horse among the Otos. (Boteler.) This sign is still used by the Cheyennes. (Dodge.)

A hand passed across the forehead. (Macgowan.)

Left-hand thumb and forefinger straightened out, held to the level of and in front of the breast; right-hand forefinger separated from the middle finger and thrown across the left hand to imitate the act of bestriding.  They appear to have no other conception of a horse, and have thus indicated that they have known it only as an animal to be ridden. (Creel; Cheyenne II.)

Draw the right hand from left to right across the body about the heart, the fingers all closed except the index.  This is abbreviated by making a circular sweep of the right open hand from about the left elbow to the front of the body, probably indicating the mane.  A Pani sign. (Cheyenne IV.)