42.
The eyes and mouth being widely open is an expression universally
recognized as one of surprise or astonishment. Thus Shakespeare says,
"I saw a smith stand with open mouth swallowing a tailor's news."
(`King John,' act iv. scene ii.) And again, "They seemed almost,
with staring on one another, to tear the cases of their eyes;
there was speech in the dumbness, language in their very gesture;
they looked as they had heard of a world destroyed."
(`Winter's Tale,' act v. scene ii.)
My informants answer with remarkable uniformity to the same effect,
with respect to the various races of man; the above movements of
the features being often accompanied by certain gestures and sounds,
presently to be described. Twelve observers in different
parts of Australia agree on this head. Mr. Winwood Reade has
observed this expression with the negroes on the Guinea coast.
The chief Gaika and others answer _yes_ to my query with respect
to the Kafirs of South Africa; and so do others emphatically
with reference to the Abyssinians, Ceylonese, Chinese, Fuegians,
various tribes of North America, and New Zealanders. With the latter,
Mr.
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