all, with two exceptions, state that the brows are heavily contracted.
Some of them allude to the firmly-compressed mouth, the distended
nostrils, and flashing eyes. According to the Rev. Mr. Taplin, rage,
with the Australians, is expressed by the lips being protruded, the
eyes being widely open; and in the case of the women by their dancing
about and casting dust into the air. Another observer speaks of the
native men, when enraged, throwing their arms wildly about.
I have received similar accounts, except as to the clenching of the
fists, in regard to the Malays of the Malacca peninsula, the
Abyssinians, and the natives of South Africa. So it is with the Dakota
Indians of North America; and, according to Mr. Matthews, they then
hold their heads erect, frown, and often stalk away with long strides.
Mr. Bridges states that the Fuegians, when enraged, frequently stamp on
the ground, walk distractedly about, sometimes cry and grow pale. The
Rev. Mr. Stack watched a New Zealand man and woman quarrelling, and
made the following entry in his note-book: Eyes dilated, body swayed
violently backwards and forwards, head inclined forwards, fists
clenched, now thrown behind the body, now directed towards each other s
faces. Mr. Swinhoe says that my description agrees with what he has
seen of the Chinese, excepting that an angry man generally inclines his
body towards his antagonist, and pointing at him, pours forth a volley
of abuse.
Lastly, with respect to the natives of India, Mr. J. Scott has sent me
a full description of their gestures and expression when enraged. Two
low-caste Bengalees disputed about a loan. At first they were calm, but
soon grew furious and poured forth the grossest abuse on each other s
relations and progenitors for many generations past. Their gestures
were very different from those of Europeans; for though their chests
were expanded and shoulders squared, their arms remained rigidly
suspended, with the elbows turned inwards and the hands alternately
clenched and opened. Their shoulders were often raised high, and then
again lowered. They looked fiercely at each other from under their
lowered and strongly wrinkled brows, and their protruded lips were
firmly closed. They approached each other, with heads and necks
stretched forwards, and pushed, scratched, and grasped at each other.
This protrusion of the head and body seems a common gesture with the
enraged; and I have noticed it with degraded English women whilst
quarrelling violently in the streets. In such cases it may be presumed
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