274 SIGNS OF AFFIRMATION Chap. XI. 



coast, and, according to Gaika, by the Kafirs of South 

 Africa, though with these latter people Mrs. Barber has 

 never seen a lateral shake used as a negative. With re- 

 spect to the Australians, seven observers agree that a nod 

 is given in affirmation; five agree about a lateral shake 

 in negation, accompanied or not by some word; but 

 Mr. Dyson Lacy has never seen this latter sign in Queens- 

 land, and Mr. Bulmer says that in Gipps' Land a nega- 

 tive is expressed by throwing the head a little backwards 

 and putting out the tongue. At the northern extremity 

 of the continent, near Torres Straits, the natives when 

 uttering a negative " don't shake the head with it, but 

 holding up the right hand, shake it by turning it half 

 round and back again two or three times." 22 The throw- 

 ing back of the head with a cluck of the tongue is said 

 to be used as a negative by the modern Greeks and Turks, 

 the latter people expressing yes by a movement like that 

 made by us when we shake our heads. 23 The Abys- 

 sinians, as I am informed by Captain Speedy, express a 

 negative by jerking the head to the right shoulder, to- 

 gether with a slight cluck, the mouth being closed; an 

 affirmation is expressed by the head being thrown back- 

 wards and the eyebrows raised for an instant. The 

 Tagals of Luzon, in the Philippine Archipelago, as I hear 

 from Dr. Adolf Meyer, when they say " yes," also throw 

 the head backwards. According to the Eajah Brooke, 

 the Dyaks of Borneo express an affirmation by raising 

 the eyebrows, and a negation by slightly contracting 

 them, together with a peculiar look from the eyes. With 

 the Arabs on the Nile, Professor and Mrs. Asa Gray 

 concluded that nodding in affirmation was rare, whilst 



22 Mr. J. B. Jukes, ' Letters and Extracts,' &c. 1871, p. 

 248. 



F. Lieber, ' On the Vocal Sounds,' &c. p. 11. Tylor, 



23 



• 1 • 



ibid. p. 53. 



