_Deaf-mute sign_:
The French deaf-mutes for _inquiry_, "_qu'est-ce que c'est_?" bring
the hands to the lower part of the chest, with open palms about a foot
separate and diverging outward.
_Australian sign_:
One is a sort of note of interrogation. For instance, if I were
to meet a native and make the sign: Hand flat, fingers and thumb
extended, the two middle fingers touching, the two outer slightly
separated from the middle by turning the hand palm upward as I met
him, it would mean: "Where are you going?" In other words I should say
"_Minna_?" (what name?). (_Smyth_.) Fig. 275.
[Illustration: Fig. 275.]
Some comparisons and illustrations connected with the signs for
_question_ appear on pages 291, 297, and 303, _supra_, and under
PHRASES, _infra_. Quintilian remarks upon this subject as follows: "In
questioning, we do not compose our gesture after any single manner;
the position of the hand, for the most part is to be changed, however
disposed before."