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Show POSSESSION- STEAL- TRADE. 33 only one authority, viz: Place the hand bowl- shaped over the right breast, as if grasping a pap. ( Dodge.) It is not understood how this can be distinguished from one of the signs above mentioned for " woman." Possession, mine, my property. The essential of this common sign is clinching the right hand held at the level of the head and moving it gently forward, clearly the grasping and display of property. None of the deaf-mute signs to express " possession, ownership," known to the writer, resemble this or are as graphic. Our deaf- mutes press an imaginary object to the breast with the right hand. Steal. The prevalent delineation is by holding the left arm horizontally across the body and seizing from under the left fist an imaginary object with the right hand ( Burton), implying concealment and the transportation that forms part of the legal definition of larceny. This sign is also made by our deaf- mutes. Sometimes the fingers of the right hand are hooked, as if grabbing or tearing. ( TitchkemdtsJci.) Another sign is reported in which the left ann is partly extended and held horizontally so that the left hand will be palm downward, a foot or so in front of the chest. Then, with the right hand in front, a motion is made as if something were grasped" deftly in the fingers and carried rapidly along under the left arm to the axilla. ( Matthews.) The specialty of horse- theft is indicated by the pantomime of cutting a lariat. ( Burton.) Trade, barter, exchange, is very commonly denoted by a sign the root of which is the movement of% the two flat hands or the two forefingers past each other, so that one takes the place before held by the other, the exact conceit of exchange. One description is as follows: The hands, backs forward, are held as index- hands pointing upward, the elbows being fully bent. Each hand is then simultaneously with the other, moved to the opposite shoulder, so that the forearms cross one another almost at right angles. ( Matthews.) Another: Pass the hands in front of the body at the height of the waist, all fingers closed except the index- fingers. ( Deffen-baugh.) This is also made by the Comanches ( Uaworth), Bannocks, and Umatillas. ( Ndtshes.) Another instance is reported where the first two fingers of the right hand cross those of the left, both being slightly spread. ( Hoffman.) Our deaf- mutes use the same gesture as first above mentioned 3 S L |