his trying. His face now became pale, his arms dropped to his sides,
his mouth and eyes were widely opened, and again surveying the tree, he
looked askant at Mr. Scott, shrugged his shoulders, inverted his
elbows, extended his open hands, and with a few quick lateral shakes of
the head declared his inability. Mr. H. Erskine has likewise seen the
natives of India shrugging their shoulders; but he has never seen the
elbows turned so much inwards as with us; and whilst shrugging their
shoulders they sometimes lay their uncrossed hands on their breasts.
With the wild Malays of the interior of Malacca, and with the Bugis
(true Malays, though speaking a different language), Mr. Geach has
often seen this gesture. I presume that it is complete, as, in answer
to my query descriptive of the movements of the shoulders, arms, hands,
and face, Mr. Geach remarks, it is performed in a beautiful style. I
have lost an extract from a scientific voyage, in which shrugging the
shoulders by some natives (Micronesians) of the Caroline Archipelago in
the Pacific Ocean, was well described. Capt. Speedy informs me that the
Abyssinians shrug their shoulders but enters into no details. Mrs. Asa
Gray saw an Arab dragoman in Alexandria acting exactly as described in
my query, when an old gentleman, on whom he attended, would not go in
the proper direction which had been pointed out to him.
Mr. Washington Matthews says, in reference to the wild Indian tribes of
the western parts of the United States, I have on a few occasions
detected men using a slight apologetic shrug, but the rest of the
demonstration which you describe I have not witnessed. Fritz Muller
informs me that he has seen the negroes in Brazil shrugging their
shoulders; but it is of course possible that they may have learnt to do
so by imitating the Portuguese. Mrs. Barber has never seen this gesture
with the Kafirs of South Africa; and Gaika, judging from his answer,
did not even understand what was meant by my description. Mr. Swinhoe
is also doubtful about the Chinese; but he has seen them, under the
circumstances which would make us shrug our shoulders, press their
right elbow against their side, raise their eyebrows, lift up their
hand with the palm directed towards the person addressed, and shake it
from right to left. Lastly, with respect to the Australians, four of my
informants answer by a simple negative, and one by a simple
affirmative. Mr. Bunnett, who has had excellent opportunities for
observation on the borders of the Colony of Victory, also answers by a
yes, adding that the gesture is performed in a more subdued and less
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