ink it probable that they have
used sign language rather less than many other Indians. They do not
seem to use it to any extent at home, and abroad the only tribes they
were likely to come into contact with were the Navajos, the Lipans
of old Mexico, and the Comanches. Probably the last have been almost
alone their visiting neighbors. They have also seen the Pueblos
a little, these appearing to be, like the Phoenicians of old, the
traders of this region." He also alludes to the effect of the Spanish,
or rather _lingua Mexicana_, upon all the Southern tribes and, indeed,
upon those as far north as the Utes, by which recourse to signs is now
rendered less necessary.

Before leaving this particular topic it is proper to admit that, while
there is not only recorded testimony to the past use of gesture
signs by several tribes of the Iroquoian and Algonkian families, but
evidence that it still remains, it is, however, noticeable that these
families when met by their first visitors do not appear to have often
impressed the latter with their reliance upon gesture language to the
same extent as has always been reported of the tribes now and formerly
found farther inland. An explanation may be suggested from the
fact that among those families there were more people dwelling near
together in communities speaking the same language, though with
dialectic peculiarities, than became known later in the farther West,
and not being nomadic their intercourse with strange tribes was less
individual and conversational. Some of the tribes, in especial the
Iroquois proper, were in a comparatively advanced social condition. A
Mohawk or Seneca would probably have repeated the arrogance of the old
Romans, whom in other respects they resembled, and compelled persons
of inferior tribes to learn his language if they desired to converse
with him, instead of resorting to the compromise of gesture
speech, which he had practiced before the prowess and policy of the
confederated Five Nations had gained supremacy and which was still
used for special purposes between the members of his own tribe. The
studies thus far pursued lead to the conclusion that at the time of
the discovery of North America all its inhabitants practiced sign
language, though with different degrees of expertness, and that
while under changed circumstances it was disused by some, others, in
especial those who after the acquisition of horses became nomads of
the Great Plains, retaine