GESTURES. 125 



emotions of the Solomon Islanders, which I was led to make after a 

 perusal of Mr. Darwin's well-known work on these subjects, occur 

 scattered about the pages of my journals ; and I must crave the 

 indulgence of my reader if they are, from this reason, of a somewhat 

 disconnected character. 



The natives of Bougainville Straits and of other parts of the 

 group beckon with the hand, in a manner almost the reverse of our 

 own. Instead of holding out the hand with the palm uppermost 

 and motioning with the forefinger, they beckon with the palm 

 downwards, and motion with all the fingers. On several occa- 

 sions, when motioning a native to approach by means of our own 

 gesture, I have had to adopt his own mode of beckoning before 



he could understand me Clapping the hands is a common 



means of evincing astonishment and del'ujht, the hands being usually 

 held up before the face as in the attitude of prayer, but little noise 

 being made. Mule, the Treasury chief, clapped his hands before 

 his face, when Lieutenant Leeper showed him some of his paintings ; 

 and surprise was exhibited in a similar manner by the men of Alu, 

 whilst I was taking a sample of hair from the head of one of their 

 number. Some young lads of Fauro clapped their hands noiselessly 

 during their laughter when I gave them a tune on the Jews-harp : 

 whilst a party of Treasury boys, who accompanied me on one of my 

 rambles, thus evinced their pleasure when some matches for lighting 

 our pipes were unexpectedly found in my bag. 



The following mode of signifying Imnger was often adopted by 

 my youthful native companions in my excursions, when the sun 

 was near its meridian altitude, in order to remind me of the biscuit 

 I generally carried for them ; and the little imps used to repeat the 

 gesture in an exaggerated form for my amusement. The belly is 

 drawn in to a surprising degree by the powerful contraction of the 

 abdominal muscles; and,assuming a dismal expression of countenance, 

 the hungry individual points with his finger to this unmistakeable 

 sign of the apparently empty condition of his stomach, and saj's 

 " kai-kai, muru " (food for stomach). Labillardiere tells us that the 

 natives of New Caledonia sio-nified their huno-er in a similar manner 

 by pointing to their bellies, and contracting the abdominal muscles 

 as much as they could.^ .... The natives of Bougainville Straits 

 make use of the exclamation, " Agai," to indicate paf« and snlfeving, 

 This cry often rang pitifulbr in my ears when, from the prejudices 



1 " Voyage in search of La Perouse" (Eiig. edit. : London 1800) vol. ii., p. 213. 



