Page:Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization.djvu/57

inability to resist, that it belongs to the brutes as well as to man. Among ourselves this natural sign of submission is generally used in the modified forms of bowing and kneeling; but the analogous gestures found in different countries not only give us the intermediate stages between an actual prostration and a slight bow, but also a set of gestures and ceremonies which are merely suggestive of a prostration which is not actually performed. The extreme act of lying with the face in the dust is not only usual in China, Siam, etc., but even in Siberia the peasant grovels on the ground and kisses the dust before a man of rank. The Arab only suggests such a humiliation by bending his hand to the ground and then putting it to his lips and forehead,—a gesture almost identical with that of the ancient Mexican, who touched the ground with his right hand and put it to his mouth.^[1] Captain Cook describes the way of doing reverence to chiefs in the Tonga Islands, which was in this wise:—When a subject approached to do homage, the chief had to hold up his foot behind, as a horse does, and the subject touched the sole with his fingers, thus placing himself, as it were, under the sole of his lord's foot. Every one seemed to have the right of doing reverence in this way when he pleased; and chiefs got so tired of holding up their feet to be touched, that they would make their escape at the very sight of a loyal subject.^[2] Other developments of the idea are found in the objection made to a Polynesian chief going down into the ship's cabin,^[3] and to images of Buddha being kept there^[4] in Siam, namely, that they were insulted by the sailors walking over their heads, and in the custom, also among the Tongans, of sitting down when a chief passed.^[5] The ancient Egyptian may be seen in the sculptures abbreviating the gesture of touching the ground, by merely putting one hand down to his knee in bowing before a superior. A slight inclination of the body indicates submission or reverence, and becomes at last a mere act of politeness, not involving any sense of inferiority at all. This is brought about by that common habit of

1. A. v. Humboldt, 'Vues des Cordillères;' Paris, 1810, p. 83.
2. Cook. Third Voyage, 2nd ed.; London, 1785, vol. i. pp. 267, 409.
3. Cook, Third Voyage, vol. i. p. 265.
4. Sir J. Bowring, 'Siam;' London, 1857, vol. i. p. 125.
5. Cook, ib. p. 409.