Indians express astonishment by a groan; and the negroes on the West
Coast of Africa, according to Mr. Winwood Reade, protrude their lips,
and make a sound like _heigh, heigh_. If the mouth is not much opened,
whilst the lips are considerably protruded, a blowing, hissing, or
whistling noise is produced. Mr. R. Brough Smith informs me that an
Australian from the interior was taken to the theatre to see an acrobat
rapidly turning head over heels: he was greatly astonished, and
protruded his lips, making a noise with his mouth as if blowing out a
match. According to Mr. Bulmer the Australians, when surprised, utter
the exclamation _korki_, and to do this the mouth is drawn out as if
going to whistle. We Europeans often whistle as a sign of surprise;
thus, in a recent novel[1210] it is said, here the man expressed his
astonishment and disapprobation by a prolonged whistle. A Kafir girl,
as Mr. J. Mansel Weale informs me, on hearing of the high price of an
article, raised her eyebrows and whistled just as a European would.
Mr. Wedgwood remarks that such sounds are written down as _whew_, and
they serve as interjections for surprise.
According to three other observers, the Australians often evince
astonishment by a clucking noise. Europeans also sometimes express
gentle surprise by a little clicking noise of nearly the same kind. We
have seen that when we are startled, the mouth is suddenly opened; and
if the tongue happens to be then pressed closely against the palate,
its sudden withdrawal will produce a sound of this kind, which might
thus come to express surprise.
Gestures of the Body. Plate VII
Turning to gestures of the body. A surprised person often raises his
opened hands high above his head, or by bending his arms only to the
level of his face. The flat palms are directed towards the person who
causes this feeling, and the straightened fingers are separated. This
gesture is represented by Mr. Rejlander in Plate VII. fig. 1. In the
Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, two of the Apostles have their
hands half uplifted, clearly expressive of their astonishment. A
trustworthy observer told me that he had lately met his wife under most
unexpected circumstances: She started, opened her mouth and eyes very
widely, and threw up both her arms above her head. Several years ago I
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