He ordered a Bengalee to climb a lofty tree; but the man, with a shrug
of his shoulders and a lateral shake of his head, said he could not.
Mr. Scott knowing that the man was lazy, thought he could,
and insisted on his trying. His face now became pale, his arms
dropped to his sides, his mouth and eyes were widely opened,
and again surveying the tree, he looked askant at Mr. Scott,
shrugged his shoulders, inverted his elbows, extended his open hands,
and with a few quick lateral shakes of the head declared his inability.
Mr. H. Erskine has likewise seen the natives of India shrugging
their shoulders; but he has never seen the elbows turned so much
inwards as with us; and whilst shrugging their shoulders they
sometimes lay their uncrossed hands on their breasts.
With the wild Malays of the interior of Malacca, and with the Bugis
(true Malays, though speaking a different, language), Mr. Geach has
often seen this gesture. I presume that it is complete, as, in answer
to my query descriptive of the movements of the shoulders, arms, hands,
and face, Mr. Geach remarks, "it is performed in a beautiful style."
I have lost an extract from a scientific voyage, in which shrugging
the shoulders by some natives (Micronesians) of the Caroline Archipelago
in the Pacific Ocean, was well described.
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