THE GESTUBE-LANGUAGE. 53 



sign, and yet would be liable to be taken for our gesture of 

 motioning away. It is possible tbat sometliiBg of this kind 

 bas led to tbe following description of tbe way of beckoning in 

 New Zealand : — " In signals for those some way off to come near 

 the arm is waved in an exactly opposite direction to that 

 adopted by Engbsbmen for similar purposes, and the natives 

 in giving silent assent to anything, elevate the head and chin 

 in place of nodding acquiescence/'^ The latter sign of ac- 

 quiescence seems as natural as our own_, as contrasting with 

 the sideways movement of negation. 



Of signs used to avert the evil eye, some are connected with 

 the ancient counter-charms, and others are of uncertain mean- 

 ing, such as the very common one represented in old Greek and 

 Eoman amulets, the hand closed all but the fore-finger and 

 little finger, which are held out straight. When King Fer- 

 dinand I. of Naples used to appear in public, he might be seen 

 to put his hand from time to time into his pocket. Those who 

 understood his ways knew that he was clenching his fist with 

 the thumb struck out between the first and second fingers, to 

 avert the effect of a glance of the evil eye that some one in the 

 street might have cast on him. 



Enough has now been said to show that gesture -language is 

 a natural mode of expression common to mankind in general. 

 Moreover, this is true in a different sense to that in which we 

 say that spoken language is common to mankind, including 

 under the word language many hundreds of mutually unintel- 

 ligible tongues, for the gesture-language is essentially one and 

 the same in all times and all countries. It is true that the 

 signs used in different places, and by difierent persons, are 

 only partially the same ; but it must be remembered that the 

 same idea may be expressed in signs in very many ways, and 

 that it is not necessary that all should choose the same. How 

 the choice of gesture- signs is influenced by education and 

 habit of life is well shown by a story told somewhere of a boy, 

 himself deaf-and-dumb, who paid a visit to a Deaf and Dumb 

 Asylum. When he was gone, the inmates expressed to the 



' A. S. Thomson, ' TLe Story of New Zealand ; ' London, 1859, Tol. i. p. 209. 

 See Cook, First Voy. H., vol. ii. p. 311. 



