The natural sign for _hear_, made both by Indians and deaf-mutes, consisting in the motion of the index, or the index and thumb joined, in a straight line to the ear, is illustrated in the Ojibwa pictograph Fig. 196, "hearing ears," and those of the same people, Figs. 197 and 198, the latter of which is a hearing serpent, and the former means "I hear, but your words are from a bad heart," the hands being thrown out as in the final part of a gesture for _bad heart_, which is made by the hand being closed and held near the breast, with the back toward the breast, then as the arm is suddenly extended the hand is opened and the fingers separated from each other. (_Mandan and Hidatsa_ I.)
The final part of the gesture, representing the idea of _bad_, not connected with heart, is illustrated in Fig. 236 on page 411.
The above Ojibwa pictographs are taken from Schoolcraft, _loc. cit._ I, plates 58, 53, 59.
Fig. 199, a bas-relief taken from Dupaix's Monuments of New Spain, in Kingsborough, _loc. cit._ IV, pt. 3, p. 31, has been considered to be a royal edict or command. The gesture _to hear_ is plainly depicted, and the right hand is directed to the persons addressed, so the command appears to be uttered with the preface of _Hear Ye! Oyez!_
The typical sign for _kill_ or _killed_ is: Right hand clinched, thumb lying along finger tips, elevated to near the shoulder, strike downward and outward vaguely in the direction of the object to be killed. The abbreviated sign is simply to clinch the right hand in the manner described and strike it down and out from the right side. (_Cheyenne_ II.) This gesture, also appears among the Dakotas and is illustrated in Fig. 200.
Fig. 201, taken from the _Dakota Calendar_, illustrates this gesture. It represents the year in which a Minneconjou chief was stabbed in the shoulder by a Gros Ventre, and afterwards named "Dead Arm" or "Killed Arm." At first the figure was supposed to show the permanent drawing up of the arm by anchylosis, but that would not be likely to be the result of the wound described, and with knowledge of the gesture the meaning is more clear.
Fig. 202, taken from _Report upon the Reconnaissance of Northwestern Wyoming, &c., Washington_, 1875, p. 207, Fig. 53, found in the Wind River Valley, Wyoming Territory, was interpreted by members of a Shoshoni and Banak delegation to Washington in 1880 as "an Indian killed another." The latter is very roughly delineated in the horizontal figure, but is also represented by the line under the hand of the upright figure, meaning the same individual. At the right is the scalp taken and the two feathers showing the dead warrior's rank. The arm nearest the prostrate foe shows the gesture for _killed_.