grass, and shaded by trees bearing edible fruit. No sound of nature is
connected with any of those objects, but the position and size of the
cave, its distance and direction, the water, its quality, and amount,
the verdant circling carpet, and the kind and height of the trees
could have been made known by pantomime in the days of the mammoth,
if articulate speech had not then been established, as Indians or
deaf-mutes now communicate similar information by the same agency.

The proof of this fact, as regards deaf-mutes, will hardly be
demanded, as their expressive pantomime has been so often witnessed.
That of the North American Indians, as distinct from the signs which
are generally its abbreviations, has been frequently described in
general terms, but it may be interesting to present two instances from
remote localities.

A Maricopa Indian, in the present limits of Arizona, was offered an
advantageous trade for his horse, whereupon he stretched himself on
his horse's neck, caressed it tenderly, at the same time shutting his
eyes, meaning thereby that no offer could tempt him to part with his
charger.

An A-tco-mâ-wi or Pit River Indian, in Northeastern California, to
explain the cause of his cheeks and forehead being covered with tar,
represented a man falling, and, despite his efforts to save him,
trembling, growing pale (pointing from his face to that of a white
man), and sinking to sleep, his spirit winging its way to the skies,
which he indicated by imitating with his hands the flight of a bird
upwards, his body sleeping still upon the river bank, to which he
pointed. The tar upon his face was thus shown to be his dress of
mourning for a friend who had fallen and died.