EVOLUTION OF CEREMONIAL GOVERNMENT. 157 



We have in the East, by the Mohammedan worshiper, that same clasp- 

 ing of the hands above the head which we see expresses reverence for 

 a living superior. Among the Greeks, "the Olympian gods were 

 prayed to in an upright position with raised hands ; the marine gods 

 with hands held horizontally ; the gods of Tartarus with hands held 

 down." And the presentation of the hands joined palm to palm, once 

 throughout Europe required from an inferior when professing obedi- 

 ence to a superior, is still taught to children as the attitude of 

 prayer. 



Nor should we omit to note that a kindred use of the hands descends 

 into social intercourse. The filiation continues to be clear in the far 

 East. " When the Siamese salute one another, they join the hands, 

 raising them before the face or above the head." Of the eight grada- 

 tions of obeisance in China, the first and least profound is that of join- 

 ing the hands and raising them before the breast. Even among our- 

 selves a remnant of this action is traceable. An obsequious shopman 

 or fussy innkeeper may be seen to join and loosely move the slightly- 

 raised hands one over another, in a way suggestive of derivation from 

 this primitive sign of obedience. 



A group of obeisances having a different, though adjacent root, 

 come next to be dealt with. Those which we have thus far considered 

 do not directly affect the subject person's dress ; but from modifications 

 of dress, either in position, state, or kind, a series of ceremonial observ- 

 ances result. 



The conquered man, prostrate before his conqueror, and becoming 

 himself a possession, simultaneously loses possession of whatever things 

 he has about him. The minor loss of his property is included in the 

 major loss of himself ; and so, while he surrenders his weapons, he also 

 yields up, if the victor demands it, whatever part of his dress is worth 

 taking: the motive for taking it being, in many cases, akin to the mo- 

 tive for taking his weapons; since, being often the hide of a formidable 

 animal, or a robe decorated with trophies, the dress, like the weapons, 

 becomes an addition to the victor's proofs of prowess. At any rate, it 

 is clear that, whatever be the particular way in which the taking of 

 clothing from a conquered man originates, the nakedness, partial or 

 complete, of the captive, becomes additional evidence of his subjuga- 

 tion. That it was so regarded of old in the East, we have clear proof. 

 In Tsaiah xx. 2-4, we read : " And the Lord said, Like as my servant 

 Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three }'ears for a sign ... so 

 shall the King of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the 

 Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot." Nor are we 

 without evidence, furnished by other races, that the taking off and 

 yielding up of clothing hence become a mark of political submission, 

 and in some cases even a complimentary observance. In Feejee, on 

 the day for paying tribute 



