CHAPTER VIII.

THE LAUGHTER OF SAVAGES.

Sources of our knowledge of savage laughter • 220

Different views of travellers on the subject • 220

Laughter as a salient characteristic of savages • 223

Descriptions of their movements of laughter • 227

Abundance of good spirits • 228

Laughter as accompaniment of shyness • 228

Laughter and fondness for teasing • 229

Rough practical jokes • 230

The way in which laughter is accepted • 232

Laughter of superiority and contempt • 233

Indecent character of jocosity • 234

Appreciation of the laughably odd • 235

Ridicule of foreign ways • 237

Laughter at the doings of the white man • 238

Laughter of the expert at the ignoramus • 240

Savage society and the white man’s _gaucherie_ • 241

Germ of sense of the absurd • 242

The ridiculing of fellow-tribesmen • 244

Reciprocal laughter of the men and the women • 245

Example of dry humour • 246

Organisation of laughter as entertainment • 247

Germs of the mimetic art • 247

Differentiation of professional jesters, etc. • 249

Amusing songs and stories • 250

Co-existence of different levels of laughter • 251

How to manage the savage by laughter • 252