This last group, the only one which concerns us for the moment, would to my thinking be conveniently designated by the term _analytic gestures_, as opposed to the synthetic gestures which manifest the different modes of affective life, and constitute what is called the expression of the emotions. This language of gesture, intellectual and non-emotional, which translates ideas, not sentiments, is more widely distributed than is generally known, among primitive peoples. It has been observed in very distinct regions of our globe; among the aborigines of North and South America, the Bushmen, etc. It is a means of communication between tribes who do not speak the same language; often, indeed, it is an indispensable auxiliary to these indigent idioms. The most important work on this subject is by an American, Col. Mallery, who with indefatigable patience has collected and interpreted the gestures in use among the Indians of North America.[36] This work alone reveals the variety of sign-language, which hardly ever leaves the region of practical life: description of the countries traversed, hints for travellers, directions to be followed, distances, time required for halts, manner, habits, and dispositions of tribes. We may cite a brief quotation, from another author: “Meeting an Indian, I wish to ask him if he saw six waggons drawn by horned cattle, with three Mexican and three American teamsters, and a man mounted on horseback. I make these signs: I point ‘you,’ then to his eyes, meaning ‘see’; then hold up all my fingers on the right hand and the forefinger on the left, meaning ‘six’; then I make two circles by bringing the ends of my thumbs and forefingers together, and, holding my two hands out, move my wrists in such a way as to indicate waggon-wheels revolving, meaning ‘waggons’; then, by making an upward motion with each hand from both sides of my head, I indicate ‘horns,’ signifying horned cattle; then by first holding up three fingers, and then by placing my extended right hand below my lower lip and moving it downward, stopping it mid way down the chest, I indicate ‘beard,’ meaning Mexican; and with three fingers again, and passing my right hand from left to right in front of my forehead, I indicate ‘white brow’ or ‘pale face.’ I then hold up my forefinger, meaning one man, and by placing the forefinger of my left hand between the fore and second finger of my right hand, representing a man astride of a horse, and by moving my hands up and down, give the motion of a horse galloping with a man on his back. I in this way ask the Indian, ‘You see six waggons, horned cattle, three Mexicans, three Americans, one man on horseback?’... The time required to make these signs would be about the same as if you asked the question verbally.”[37]