Curiosities of Literature, Vol. II | Page 7

be reduced to two kinds; to
reverences or salutations, and to the touch of some part of the human
body. To bend and prostrate oneself to express sentiments of respect,
appears to be a natural motion; for terrified persons throw themselves
on the earth when they adore invisible beings; and the affectionate
touch of the person they salute is an expression of tenderness.
As nations decline from their ancient simplicity, much farce and
grimace are introduced. Superstition, the manners of a people, and their
situation, influence the modes of salutation; as may be observed from
the instances we collect.
Modes of salutation have sometimes very different characters, and it is
no uninteresting speculation to examine their shades. Many display a
refinement of delicacy, while others are remarkable for their simplicity,
or for their sensibility. In general, however, they are frequently the
same in the infancy of nations, and in more polished societies. Respect,
humility, fear, and esteem, are expressed much in a similar manner, for
these are the natural consequence of the organisation of the body.

These demonstrations become in time only empty civilities, which
signify nothing; we shall notice what they were originally, without
reflecting on what they are.
Primitive nations have no peculiar modes of salutation; they know no
reverences or other compliments, or they despise and disdain them. The
Greenlanders laugh when they see an European uncover his head, and
bend his body before him whom he calls his superior.
The Islanders, near the Philippines, take the hand or foot of him they
salute, and with it they gently rub their face. The Laplanders apply their
nose strongly against that of the person they salute. Dampier says, that
at New Guinea they are satisfied to put on their heads the leaves of
trees, which have ever passed for symbols of friendship and peace. This
is at least a picturesque salute.
Other salutations are very incommodious and painful; it requires great
practice to enable a man to be polite in an island situated in the straits
of the Sound. Houtman tells us they saluted him in this grotesque
manner: "They raised his left foot, which they passed gently over the
right leg, and from thence over his face." The inhabitants of the
Philippines use a most complex attitude; they bend their body very low,
place their hands on their cheeks, and raise at the same time one foot in
the air with their knee bent.
An Ethiopian takes the robe of another, and ties it about his own waist,
so that he leaves his friend half naked. This custom of undressing on
these occasions takes other forms; sometimes men place themselves
naked before the person whom they salute; it is to show their humility,
and that they are unworthy of appearing in his presence. This was
practised before Sir Joseph Banks, when he received the visits of two
female Otaheitans. Their innocent simplicity, no doubt, did not appear
immodest in the eyes of the virtuoso.
Sometimes they only undress partially. The Japanese only take off a
slipper; the people of Arracan their sandals in the street, and their
stockings in the house.

In the progress of time it appears servile to uncover oneself. The
grandees of Spain claim the right of appearing covered before the king,
to show that they are not so much subjected to him as the rest of the
nation: and (this writer truly observes) we may remark that the English
do not uncover their heads so much as the other nations of Europe. Mr.
Hobhouse observes that uncovering the head, with the Turks, is a mark
of indecent familiarity; in their mosques the Franks must keep their
hats on. The Jewish custom of wearing their hats in their synagogues is,
doubtless, the same oriental custom.
In a word, there is not a nation, observes the humorous Montaigne,
even to the people who when they salute turn their backs on their
friends, but that can be justified in their customs.
The negroes are lovers of ludicrous actions, and hence all their
ceremonies seem farcical. The greater part pull the fingers till they
crack. Snelgrave gives an odd representation of the embassy which the
king of Dahomy sent to him. The ceremonies of salutation consisted in
the most ridiculous contortions. When two negro monarchs visit, they
embrace in snapping three times the middle finger.
Barbarous nations frequently imprint on their salutations the
dispositions of their character. When the inhabitants of Carmena (says
Athenæus) would show a peculiar mark of esteem, they breathed a vein,
and presented for the beverage of their friend the flowing blood. The
Franks tore the hair from their head, and presented it to the person they
saluted. The slave cut his hair, and offered it to his master.
The Chinese are singularly affected in