Signaling and Indian Signs
In general, picture writing aims to give on paper the idea of the Sign Language without first turning it into sounds. In the dictionary of Sign Language I give the written form after each of the signs that has a well established or pos- sible symbol. Many of these are drawn from the Indians who were among the best scouts and above all noted for their use of the picture-writing. A few of them will serve to illustrate. I /I III nil y y V" Viir Vim Qmtwi")! Numbers were originally fingers held up, and five was the whole hand, while ten was a double hand. We can see traces of this origin in the Roman style of numeration. A one-night camp, a more permanent camp, a village and a town are shown in legible symbols. An enemy, sometimes expressed as a " snake," recalls our own "snake in the grass." A "friend," was a man with a The picture on the teepee lining, to record Guy's Exploit branch of a tree; because this was commonly used as a flag of truce and had indeed the same meaning as our olive branch. The "treaty" is easily read; it was a pair of figures like this done in Wampum that recorded Penn's Treaty. "Qood" is gometimes given as a circle full of lines all
