The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-02-29
A PIONEERS CHAT.
r'E TALKS or THE MYSTERIES OF
THE INDIANS SIGN LANGUAGE.

4
sioux Snme--A Translation OF the
Indian Name for God-The Sioux an
ignostic.
Mr. Edward II. Allison, III his buckskin
/ clothes and his old, white. lop rim hat, IS
one Oh toe most interesting men | ever
met II was he who, single handed,
brought about the surrender u Sitting
Bull after the massacre Of Gen. Custer
| and his troops, and the story OK this ex-
plot gave Mr.. Allison u national name,
but, after all, that was only one Of bis
exploits and by 10 means the most in
tcrcstinC Of them. lie Is an ideal Indian
/ hchter, bat IS very far from that par
tlcglar ard false ideal set up by the cheap
peDny-a.iuers who never saw plain OF
an Indian, bat who write miserable stuff
about them both 10y the mile.
Mr.. Allison was born IN Michigan in
1874 and spent the first fifteen years Of
bis lie on his fathers farm. Then,
though yet SO young, lie passed the eXami-
nation standing as hichas 90 and was ma
circulated at Ann Arbor university. Soon
after this lie enlisted for the war, out OF
which he came, after three years, at tho
agc oe lg fitted, rs the army IS likely 70
dt orc Of IFS years, for something moro
active and exciting than the old farm life
in Mexican. Ia 1866 he accordingly
went west aud became government dis
patch bearer. Ever since that time lie
las lived upon the plains, suffered its
hardships, learned It's lessons, aud now he
has come out, after twenty-five years OF
Il, an INTEL gent gentleman, with broad
understanding, not only Of the Indians,
their language and their characteristics,
but OF "thc Indian question" III all its
phases. from that viewed by the states
man 70 that imagined by the ambitious
younCster who sticks his mothers bread
knife iu his belt and starts TO eXtcrininatc
the race Of red men.
TIE INDIANS sICS LANGUAGE.
Mr.. Allison has not merely learned the
siou., language; lie has mastered It. lie
sCcoas q dozen Or moro lingos, or dialects
but lie says the Sioux IS tue language Of
the American Indian, and that Of The 2OO,-
900 Indians IN all the country the Sioux
nation comprises one sixth. There j., s"
said De. "Ouly one language that is EN-
plOycu by all our Wteteru Indians. L. -
Inc sign LANGUAGE Then Mr Allison
cave me ana example Of this tongue. >"
An Indian hungry! lie motions with
one hand toward his open mouth as il he
were THROWING food into it, and then
makes a ne-Itiye gesture away from his
mouth. The translation literally Is: Il
have caten-nOt OF course. il he has
lot eaten be I. hungry II he is very
hungry the &C iurc toward bis mouth is
greater in cxtont-thut u.s. be motions to-
ward his mouth and continues the gesture
clear alone down to lis stOmaCh-ho is
empty all the way down, SO TO speak.
Now he wants to say he has looked for
game This is said by pointing his two
first fingers away from his eyes, the back
Of his hand being in front of his nose If
he wants to say he had 10 look long for
the game he points IN several directions
and lor some time with these Finger
eyes"
To tell Of mounting his pony and rid
ing away, he straddled two fingers Of ono
hand over the foiellnger Of the other, aud
makes a gallopiug motion with the hands.
To say that hc levels his gun at the game,
he holds tls arms as il holding q gun.
Shaping one palm upon the other means
that lac fired the gun, and Shaping the
back of one hand on the palm Of the other
means that ne brought down the game.
If he missed the mark he makes the same
gesture, but adds the negative flourish 20
the brought down the game-not.
So he goes through everything he has 10
say, and ,lr. Allison tells me that every
Indian in the west knows this language
perfectly
Az ERRONEOUS IMPRESSION.
BY the way, correcting some wrong I'M
pressions Mr.. Allison said: "Most people
think sitting Bull means a bull in u sit
ting posture Nothing could give more
erroneous impression OF the meaning Of
his name Ills Sioux name IS Ia tau-ka-
i-yo-tGn-ka 'Tatan-ka' means buffalo
bull, the King of beasts, and 'i-yotan-ka'
means literally 10 sit down upon-that IS,
10 take possession Of IN Indian would
say that Gen. sherman marched through
Georgia and sat down upon savannah
conquered the city So, Sitting Bull is
the conQueror Of the king Of beasts, or, in
other words the king Of kings.
Speaking Of mstranslatiOns, con-
tinuel Mr. Allison people talk about
the Indian God as the great spirit \
true translation gives much better I'M
derstaudng of the Indians idea Of God.
The Sioux word for spirit is 'nagi, q
shade or shadow. Wa is a Sioux prefix
general, ard gives TO whatever it precedcs
a general or universal meaning Wa
nagi means spirit in general just as man
means 70 Us men IN general. PIP is
plural sulilX Wa naci pr means spirits
Ia general. and IS q term frequently used
In the devotional exercises OF Indians.
But the Sioux word for God is quite an.
other thing. 1t IS Wa kan-tan-ka.'
Kan means mystery, that which is uh-
movable. Wa, az have said, signifies
the universal Tan ka means great.
The word for God is literally, then, the
great, universal mystery, uuknowabie by
anybody. The Sioux, you see, ia u pro-
fessed agnostic "
Mr. Allison held the position of dis
patch bearer for some time and then be-
came mail carrier, riding on horseback
and taking the mails on pack mule from
old Fort Rice, III Dakota, for hundreds OF
miles IN all directions, through country
swarmirg with hostile Indians. He al
ways had with him an escort Of Indians
friendly 10 him, but pley had many
battle with the hostiles during the three
years;t hat he continued in this service 1T
was hard 10 so more than 800 yards out
side the fort palisade," said he, without