Chap. VIII. LAL'GHTER. 207 



I was anxious to know whether tears are freely shed 

 during excessive laughter by most of the races of men, 

 and I hear from my correspondents that this is the case. 

 One instance was observed with the Hindoos, and they 

 themselves said that it often occurred. So it is with 

 the Chinese. The women of a wild tribe of Malays in 

 the Malacca peninsula, sometimes shed tears when they 

 laugh heartily, though this seldom occurs. With the 

 Dyaks of Borneo it must frequently be the case, at least 

 with the women, for I hear from the Eajah C. Brooke 

 that it is a common expression with them to say " we 

 nearly made tears from laughter." The aborigines of 

 Australia express their emotions freely, and they are 

 described by my correspondents as jumping about and 

 clapping their hands for joy, and as often roaring with 

 laughter. No less than four observers have seen their 

 eyes freely watering on such occasions; and in one in- 

 stance the tears rolled down their cheeks. Mr. Buhner, 

 a missionary in a remote part of Victoria, remarks, " that 

 they have a keen sense of the ridiculous; they are ex- 

 cellent mimics, and when one of them is able to imitate 

 the peculiarities of some absent member of the tribe, it 

 is very common to hear all in the camp convulsed with 

 laughter." With Europeans hardly anything excites 

 laughter so easily as mimicry; and it is rather curious 

 to find the same fact with the savages of Australia, who 

 constitute one of the most distinct races in the world. 



In Southern Africa with two tribes of Kafirs, espe- 

 cially with the women, their eyes often fill with tears- 

 during laughter. Gaika, the brother of the chief San- 

 dilli, answers my query on this head, with the words, 

 " Yes, that is their common practice." Sir Andrew 

 Smith has seen the painted face of a Hottentot woman 

 all furrowed with tears after a fit of laughter. In North- 

 ern Africa, with the Abyssinians, tears are secreted under 



