MALLERY. ] NEAPOLITAN GESTURE SIGNS. 299 
with the joined ends of finger and thumb before described, see Fig. 66, 
and then separating them, thus breaking the union. This the latter re- 
luctantly pretends to do with one hand, yet with the other, which is con- 
cealed from her irate mother’s sight, shows her constancy by continuing 
with emphatie pressure the sign of love. According to the gesture vo- 
cabulary, on the sign scocchiare being made to a person who is willing to 
accept the breach of former affection, he replies in the same manner, or 
still more forcibly by inserting the index of the other hand between 
the index and thumb of the first, thus showing the separation by the 
presence of a material obstacle. Simply refraining from holding out the 
hand in any responsive gesture is sufficient to indicate that the breach 
is not accepted, but that the party addressed desires to continue in 
friendship instead of resolving into enmity. This weak and inactive 
negative, however, does not suit Peppino’s vivacity, who, placing his 
left hand on his bosom, makes, with his right, one of the signs for em- 
phatic negation. This consists of the palm turned to the person ad- 
dressed with the index somewhat extended and separated from the other 
fingers, the whole hand being oscillated from right to left. .- 
This gesture appears on ancient Greek vases, and is com- 
pound, the index being demonstrative and the negation 
shown by the horizontal oscillation, the whole being trans- 
latable as, “That thing I want not, won’t have, reject.” 
The sign is virtually the same as that made by Arapaho 
and Cheyenne Indians (see EXTRACTS FROM DICTION- 
ARY, page 440, infra.). The conception of oscillation to 
show negation also appears with different execution in the 
sign of the Jicarilla Apaches and the Pai-Utes, Fig. 82. : 
The same sign is reported from Japan, in the same sense. HE 
Tonno, in hopes that the quarrel is definitive, to do his part in stop- 
ping the ceremony, proceeds to blow out the three lighted candles, which 
are an important traditional feature of the rite. The good old man Pas- 
quale, with his hands extended, raised in surprised displeasure and 
directed toward the insolent youth, stops his attempt. The veteran 
notary, familiar with such quarrels in his experience, smiles at this one, 
and, continuing in his quiet attitude, extends his right hand placidly to 
Peppino with the sign of adagio, before described, see Fig. 68, advising 
him not to get excited, but to persist quietly, and all would be well. 
Fig. 83 portrays the first entrance of a bride to her husband’s house. 
She comes in with a tender and languid mien, her pendent arms indicat- 
ing soft yielding, and the right hand loosely holds a handkerchief, ready 
to apply in case of overpowering emotion. She is, or feigns to be, so 
timid and embarrassed as to require support by the arm of a friend who 
introduces her. She is followed by a male friend of the family, whose 
joyful face is turned toward supposed by-standers, right hand pointing 
to the new acquisition, while with his left he makes the sign of horns 
before described, see Fig. 79, which in this connection is to wish pros- 
