The brightness
of the eyes of the Australians has struck four observers,
and the same fact has been noticed with Hindoos, New Zealanders,
and the Dyaks of Borneo.
Savages sometimes express their satisfaction not only by smiling,
but by gestures derived from the pleasure of eating.
Thus Mr. Wedgwood[18] quotes Petherick that the negroes on
the Upper Nile began a general rubbing of their bellies when
he displayed his beads; and Leichhardt says that the Australians
smacked and clacked their mouths at the sight of his horses
and bullocks, and more especially of his kangaroo dogs.
The Greenlanders, "when they affirm anything with pleasure,
suck down air with a certain sound;"[19] and this may be an
imitation of the act of swallowing savoury food.
[18] A `Dictionary of English Etymology,' 2nd edit.
1872, Introduction, p. xliv.
Laughter is suppressed by the firm contraction of the orbicular
muscles of the mouth, which prevents the great zygomatic
and other muscles from drawing the lips backwards and upwards.
The lower lip is also sometimes held by the teeth, and this
gives a roguish expression to the face, as was observed with
the blind and deaf Laura Bridgman.
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