_LOW TRIBES OF MAN._

Apart from the establishment of a systematic language of signs under
special circumstances which have occasioned its development, the
gestures of the lower tribes of men may be generally classed under the
emotional or instinctive division, which can be correlated with those
of the lower animals. This may be illustrated by the modes adopted to
show friendship in salutation, taking the place of our shaking hands.
Some Pacific Islanders used to show their joy at meeting friends by
sniffing at them, after the style of well-disposed dogs. The Fuegians
pat and slap each other, and some Polynesians stroke their own faces
with the hand or foot of the friend. The practice of rubbing or
pressing noses is very common. It has been noticed in the Lapland
Alps, often in Africa, and in Australia the tips of the noses are
pressed a long time, accompanied with grunts of satisfaction. Patting
and stroking different parts of the body are still more frequent, and
prevailed among the North American Indians, though with the latter
the most common expression was hugging. In general, the civilities
exchanged are similar to those of many animals.



_GESTURES AS AN OCCASIONAL RESOURCE._

Persons of limited vocabulary, whether foreigners to the tongue
employed or native, but not accomplished in its use, even in the midst
of a civilization where gestures are deprecated, when at fault for
words resort instinctively to physical motions that are not wild nor
meaningless, but picturesque and significant, though perhaps made
by the gesturer for the first time. An uneducated laborer, if