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Show 30 MOON- NIGHT- INQUIRY. interpreted as the crescent moon. It appears that some tribes that retain the full descriptive circle for the sun do form a distinguishing crescent for the moon, but with the thumb and forefinger, and for greater discrimination precede it with the sign for night. An interesting variant of the sign for sun is, however, reported as follows: The partly bent forefinger and thumb of the right hand are brought together at their tips so as to represent a circle; and with these digits next to the face, the hand is held up toward the sky from one to two feet from the eye and in such a manner that the glance may be directed through the opening. { Matthews) The same authority gives the sign for " moon" as that for " sun," except that the tips of the finger & nd thumb, instead of being opposed, are approximated so as to represent a crescent. This is not preceded by the sign for night, which, with some occasional additions, is the crossing of both horizontally outspread palms, right above left, in front of the body, the conception being covering, shade, and consequent obscurity. With a slight differentiation, darkness is represented, and with another, forget, forgotten, that is, darkness in the memory. Inquiry, question. What? • Which? When? This is generally denoted by the right hand held upward, palm upward, and directed toward the person interrogated, and rotated two or three times edgewise. When this motion is made, as among some tribes, with the thumb near the face, it might be mistaken for the derisive, vulgar gesture called " taking a sight," " donner un pied de nez," descending to our small boys from antiquity. The separate motion of the fingers in the vulgar gesture as used in our eastern cities is, however, more nearly correlated with the Indian sign for fool It may be noted that the Latin " sagax," from which is derived " sagacity," was chiefly used to denote the keen scent of dogs, so there is a relation established between the nasal organ and wisdom or its absence, and that " suspendere naso" was a classic phrase for hoaxing. The Italian expressions " restare con un palmo di naso," " con tanto di naso," & c, mentioned by the Canon DE JOBIO, refer to the same vulgar gesture in which the face is supposed to be thrust forward sillily. The same rotation upon the wrist, with the index and middle finger diverged over the heart, among our Indians means specifically uncertainty, indecision, " more than one heart for a purpose," and a variant of it appears in one of the signs for " J |
