A word may well be expended on the subject of the
organisation of the laughing propensity into regular
amusements among savage tribes. One of the things which
a white man can learn from these much-misunderstood
peoples is the art of social entertainment. Without
luxurious salons, without plate and rare wines, without
the theatre and the concert hall, they manage to obtain a
good deal of genuine, unpretentious conviviality. When,
writes one traveller, they are relieved of the presence
of strangers they have much easy social conversation.
Round their own fires they sing and chat, and older men
lie and brag about feats in war and chase. "Jokes pass
freely and the laugh is long if not loud." "

A standard dish in these social entertainments is taking
off the peculiarities of other tribes and of Europeans.
Mimicry, the basis of the actor's art, is often carried to a
high degree of perfection among these uncouth savages;
and it is highly prized. When, writes a missionary of the
tribes of the remote part of Victoria, a native is able to
imitate the peculiarities of some absent member of the
tribe, it is very common to hear all in the camp convulsed
with laughter.^ The Indians of Brazil hold the peculiarities,
e.g., the beard, of other tribes up to laughter by means

1 Ling Both, op cit., i., pp. 83-4. ^ Sproat, op. cit., p. 51.
^ Quoted by Darwin, Expression of the Emotions, p. 209.
