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Show * HINTS AND EXPLANATIONS. 27 that is, the measure is the length of the outline of the hand. Let this be called " around the hand unit" There is a unit of measurement used which may be represented by the distance from the long finger to the elbow, measured on the inside or outside of the arm; or it may be from the tips of the joined thumb and fore- finger to the elbow, measured on the inside, i e.} a half arm's length. Another unit used is the distance from the meeting of the tips of the thumb and fore- finger to the armpit- i. e., an arm's length; still another from the meeting of the tips of the thumb and fore- finger of one hand to the meeting of the tips of the thumb and fore- finger of the other hand, along the outstretched arms and across the breast- i e} a double arm's length. Distances along the ground are often- measured in paces. All the tribes probably have measures for circumferences, and also for quantities. Distances between places were measured in days' journeys and fractions of days'journeys; the latter were often indicated by pointing out some part of the sun's daily path along the firmament § 10.- DIVISION OP TIME. Indians have many ways of dividing the year into parts; they may have two, three, four, or even five seasons; they may divide the year into thirteen moons, and, in addition to one or both of the above methods, they may have many ways of designating particular times- as the strawberry time, the hazel- nut time, the kamas root time, & c. Their methods should be discovered and carefully described, recording the terms. § 11.- STANDARDS OP VALUE. One or more of the most important skins used by the Indians were often employed as standards of value, especially the beaver skin and the buckskin. Shells and other articles worked into beads and made into strings were also used. In some tribes eagle feathers were the standard of value. The collector should discover, if possible, what standards of value were used, whether one or more, and give a clear account of them, at the same time recording the terms used. L |