HALT!

——­ Stand there! he is coming this way.

Grasp the end of the blanket or robe; wave it downward several times. (Omaha I.)

——­ To inquire disposition.

Wave the folded blanket to the right and left in front of the body, then point toward the person or persons approaching, and carry it from a horizontal position in front of the body rapidly downward and upward several times. (Dakota I.)

MANY.

Wave the blanket directly in front of the body upward and downward several times.  Many of anything. (Dakota I.)

PEACE, COUPLED WITH INVITATION.

Motion of spreading a real or imaginary robe or skin on the ground.  Noticed by Lewis and Clark on their first meeting with the Shoshoni in 1805. (Lewis and Clark’s Travels, &c., London, 1817, vol. ii, p. 74.) This signal is more particularly described as follows:  Grasp the blanket by the two corners with the hands, throw it above the head, allowing it to unfold as it falls to the ground as if in the act of spreading it.

QUESTION.

The ordinary manner of opening communication with parties known or supposed to be hostile is to ride toward them in zigzag manner, or to ride in a circle. (Custer’s My Life on the Plains, loc. cit., p. 58.)

This author mentions (p. 202) a systematic manner of waving a blanket, by which the son of Satana, the Kaiowa chief, conveyed information to him, and a similar performance by Yellow Bear, a chief of the Arapahos (p. 219), neither of which he explains in detail.

——­ I do not know you.  Who are you?

Point the folded blanket at arm’s length toward the person, and then wave it toward the right and left in front of the face.  You—­I don’t know.  Take an end of the blanket in each hand, and extend the arms to full capacity at the sides of the body, letting the other ends hang down in front of the body to the ground, means, Where do you come from? or who are you? (Dakota I.)

SAFETY.  ALL QUIET.  SEE NOTES ON CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHO SIGNALS.

SURRENDER.

Hold the folded blanket or a piece of cloth high above the head.  “This really means ‘I want to die right now.’” (Dakota I.)

SURROUNDED, WE ARE.

Take an end of the blanket in each hand, extend the arms at the sides of the body, allowing the blanket to hang down in front of the body, and then wave it in a circular manner. (Dakota I.)

SIGNALS MADE WHEN THE PERSON OF THE SIGNALIST IS NOT VISIBLE.

Those noted consist of SMOKE, FIRE, or DUST signals.

SMOKE SIGNALS GENERALLY.

They [the Indians] had abandoned the coast, along which bale-fires were left burning and sending up their columns of smoke to advise the distant bands of the arrival of their old enemy. (Schoolcraft’s History, &c., vol. iii, p. 35, giving a condensed account of De Soto’s expedition.)