The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-01-03
A PIONEERS CHAT.
HE TALKS OF THE MYSTERIES OF
THE INDIANS SIGN LANGUAGE.


The Correct Meaning OF Sitting BuII'R
Sioux Name-A Translation OF the
Indian Name for God-The Sioux an
AgnOstic.
Mr.. Edward II. Allison, in his buckskin
clothes and his old, white, lop rim hat, is
one of the most interesting men ever
met. 1t was he who, single handed,
brought about the surrender OF Sitting
Bull after the massacre of Gen. Custer
and his troops, and the story of this ex-
plot gave Mr.. Allison national name,
but, after all, that was only one of his
exploits and by no means the most in
teresting of them. He is an ideal Indian
fighter" but is very far from that par
ticular and false ideal set up by the cheap
penny-a-liners who never saw plain or
an Indian, but who write miserable stuff
about them both by the mile.
Mr.. Allison was born in Michigan in
1912, and spent the first fifteen years Of
his life on his fathers farm. Then,
though yet so young, he passed the exami-
mztion standing as high as 90 and was ma
circulated at Ann Arbor university. Soon
after this he enlisted for the war, out of
which he came, after three years, at the
age of 49, fitted, as the army is likely to
fit one of his years, for something moro
active and exciting than the old farm life
in Michigan. In 1866 he accordingly
went west and became a government dis
patch bearer. Ever sine that time he
has lived upon the plaiGs, suffered its
hardships, learned its lesscns and now he
has come out, after twent y-two years OF
IL, an intelligent gentleman, with n broad
understanding, not only of the Indians,
their language and their characteristics,
but of 1.-The Indian question" in all its
phases, from that viewed by the states
man to that imagined by the ambitious
youngster who sticks his mothers bread
knife in his belt and starts to exterminate
the race of red men.
THE INDIANS SIGN LANGUAGE.
Mr.. Allison has not me- ely learned the
Sioux language; he has mastered it. He
speaks dozen or more Lagos, or dialects.
but he says the Sioux is the language of
the American Indian, and that of the 300,-
OOO Indians in all the country the Sioux
nation comprises one-siXth. ''There is"
said he, ''only one language that is en-
pioyed by all our western Indians 1t is
one hand toward his open mouTn rs II ne
were throwing food into 1t, and then
makes negative gesture away from his
mouth. The translation literally is: II
have eaten-not." OF course, if he has
not eaten he is hungry. If he is very
hungry the gesture toward his mouth Is
greater in eXtent-that is, he motions to-
ward his mouth and continues the gesture
clear along down to his stomach--he 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 o. his nose. If
he wants to say he had to look long for
the game he points in several directions
and for some time with these finger
eyes"
To tell of mounting his pony and rid
ing away, he straddled two fingers of one
hand over the forefnger OF the other, and
makes galloping motion with the hands.
To saw that he levels his gun at the game,
he holds his arms as if holding gun.
Shaping one palm upon the other means
that he fired the gun, and slapping the
back of one hand on the palm of the other
means that he brought down the game.
If he missed the mark he makes the same
gesture, but adds the negative flourish 20
1.-THE drought down the game-not."
So he goes through everything he has to
say and Mr.. Allison tells me that every
Indian in the west knows this language
perfectly.
AN ERRONEOUS IMPRESSION.
By the way, correcting some wrong i'm
pressions, Mr.. Allison said: "Most people
think Sitting Bull means bull in sit
erroneous impression of the meaning OF
his name. His Sioux name is Ia tan-ka
i-yo-tan-ka. 'Ta-tan-ka' means buffalo
bull, the king of beasts, and i-yo-tan-ka'
means literally to sit down upon-that IS,
to take possession of. An 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
ofbar the king Of kings.
s'Speaking of mistranslations, con-
tinued Mr.. Allison, "people talk about
the Indian God as the great spirit A
true translation gives much better I'M
Outstanding Of the Indians idea of God.
The Sioux word for spirit is 'nagi,' a
shade or shadow. Wa is Sioux prefix
general, and gives to whatever it precedeS
a general or universal meaning. Wa
Dagi' means spirit in general, just as man
means to us men in general. 'Pi' is a
plural suffiX. Wa nagi pi' means spirits
in general, and is 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 I'M
movable. Wa, as I have said, signifies
the universal. Tan ka' means great.
The word for God is literally, then, the
| great, universal mystery, unknowable by
anybody. The Sioux, you see, is pro.
| fessed agnostic."
| Mr. Allison held the position Of dis
patch bearer for some time and then be-
| came a mail carrier, riding on horseback
and taking the mails on pack mule from
old Fort Rice, in Dakota, for hundreds of
| miles in all directions, through country
swarming with hostile Indians. He al
ways had with him an escort of Indians
/ friendly to him, but they had many a
battle with the hostiles during the three
yearsIthat he continued in this service. ''It
was hard to go more than 300 yards out
side the fort palisade,' said he, without
having an arrow shot at you. wills b.
Hawkins in Chicago Times.