112 MENTAL EVOLUTION IN MAN. 



Syracuse, and that he knew me well. Then I asked hnn how he 

 liked the Neapolitan service ; he said he did not like it at all, 

 and if his ofificers did not treat him better he should certainly 

 end by deserting. I then signified to him that if he ever 

 should be reduced to that extremity, he might rely upon me, 

 and that I would aid him all in my power. The poor fellow 

 thanked me with all his heart, and I have no doubt that one 

 day or other I shall see him come.' Three days after I was 

 at the quarters of my Syracusan friend, when he was told 

 that a man asked to see him who would not give his name ; 

 he went out and left me nearly ten minutes. * Well,' said he 

 on returning, 'just as I said.' ' What .^ ' said I. 'That the 

 poor fellow would desert.' " 



The instance which I select of gesture-language as em- 

 ployed by a deaf-mute occurred in the National Deaf-Mute 

 College at Washington, to which Colonel Mallery took seven 

 Uta Indians on March 6, 1880. 



" Another deaf-mute gestured to tell us that, when he was 

 a boy, he went to a melon-field, tapped several melons, 

 finding them to be green or unripe : finally, reaching a good 

 one, he took his knife, cut a slice and ate it. A man made 

 his appearance on horseback, entered the patch on foot, 

 found the cut melon, and, detecting the thief, threw the 

 melon towards him, hitting him in the back, whereupon he 

 ran away crying. The man mounted and rode off in an 

 opposite direction. 



"All of these signs were readily comprehended, although 

 some of the Indians varied very slightly in their translation. 

 When the Indians were asked whether, if they (the deaf- 

 mutes) were to come to the Uta country, they would be 

 scalped, the answer was given, ' Nothing would be done to 

 you ; but we would be fi-iends,' as follows : — 



"The palm of the right hand was brushed toward the 

 right over that of the left (' nothing '), and the right made to 

 grasp the palm of the left, thumbs extended over, and lying 

 upon the back of the opposing hand (' friends '). 



"This was readily understood by the deaf-mutes. Deaf- 



