of a word to
express his idea, to think of a great multiplicity of things, gives
the following instance:

"A Ponca Indian in saying that a man killed a rabbit, would have to
say: the man, he, one, animate, standing, in the nominative case,
purposely killed, by shooting an arrow, the rabbit, he, the one,
animate, sitting, in the objective case; for the form of a verb to
kill would have to be selected, and the verb changes its form by
inflection and incorporated particles to denote person, number, and
gender as animate or inanimate, and gender as standing, sitting, or
lying, and case; and the form of the verb would also express whether
the killing was done accidentally or purposely, and whether it was by
shooting or by some other process, and, if by shooting, whether by
bow and arrow, or with a gun; and the form of the verb would in like
manner have to express all of these things relating to the object;
that is, the person, number, gender, and case of the object; and
from the multiplicity of paradigmatic forms of the verb to kill, this
particular one would have to be selected." This is substantially the
mode in which an Indian sign talker would find it necessary to tell
the story, as is shown by several examples given below in narratives,
speeches, and dialogues.

Indian languages exhibit the same fondness for demonstration which is
necessary in sign language. The two forms of utterance are alike in
their want of power to express certain words, such as the verb "to
be," and in the criterion of organization, so far as concerns a
high degree of synthesis and imperfect differentiation, they bear
substantially the same relation to the English language.

It may finally be added that as not only proper names but nouns,
generally in Indian languages are connotive, predicating some
attribute of the object, they can readily be expressed by gesture
signs, and therefore among them, if anywhere, it is to be expected
that relations may be established between the words and the signs.

ETYMOLOGY OF WORDS FROM GESTURES.

There can be no attempt in the present limits to trace the etymology
of any large number of words in the several Indian languages to a
gestural origin, nor, if the space allowed, would it be satisfactory.
The signs have scarcely yet been collected, verified, and collated
in sufficient numbers for such comparison, even with the few of
the Indian languages the radicals of which have been scientifically
studied. T