EVOLUTION OF CEREMONIAL GOVERNMENT. 161 



on observing that it becomes also an act of religious subordination as 

 is shown when Isaiah, himself setting the example, exhorts the rebel- 

 lious Israelites to make their peace with Jahveh in the words " Strip 

 you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins ; " and as 

 when the fourscore men who came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, 

 to propitiate Jahveh, besides cutting their hair and gashing themselves 

 also tore their clothes. Nor does the parallelism fail with baring the 

 feet. This, which we have seen is one of those unclothings signifying 

 humiliation before a ruler, was one among the signs of mourning among 

 the Hebrews ; as is shown by the command in Ezekiel (xxiv. 17), "For- 

 bear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head 

 upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet , " and among the He- 

 brews putting off the shoes was also an act of worship. Elsewhere, 

 too, it occurred as in common a mark of political subordination and of 

 religious subordination. Of the Peruvians, who went barefoot into the 

 presence of the Ynca, we read that " all took off their shoes, except the 

 king, at two hundred paces before reaching the doors " (of the temple of 

 the Sun) ; " but the king remained with his shoes on until he came to 

 the doors." Once more the like holds with the uncovering of the head. 

 Used along with other ceremonial acts to propitiate the living superior, 

 it is used also to propitiate the spirit of the ordinary dead, and also the 

 spirit of the extraordinary dead, which, becoming apotheosized, is per- 

 manently worshiped. We have the uncovering round the grave which 

 continues even among ourselves ; and we have, on the Continent, the 

 uncovering by those who meet a funeral-procession. We have the 

 taking off the hat to images of Christ and the Madonna, out-of-doors 

 and in-doors, as enjoined in old books of manners ; the unhatting on the 

 knees when the host is carried by in Catholic countries ; and the baring 

 the head on entering places of worship everywhere. 



Nor must we omit the fact that obeisances of this class, too, made 

 first to supreme persons most feared and presently to less powerful per- 

 sons, extend gradually until they become general. Quotations above 

 given have shown incidentally that in Africa partial uncovering of the 

 shoulder is used as a salute between equals, and that a kindred removal 

 of the cloak in Spain serves a like purpose. So, too, the going barefoot 

 into a king's presence, and into a temple, originates an ordinary civility : 

 the Damaras take off their sandals before entering a stranger's house ; 

 a Japanese leaves his shoes at the door even when he enters a shop ; 

 " upon entering a Turkish house, it is the invariable rule to leave the 

 outer slipper or galosh at the foot of the stairs." And then in Europe, 

 from having been a ceremony of feudal homage and of religious worship, 



ing animals to any considerable extent, textile fabrics of hair are relatively expensive; 

 and of the textile fabrics made of silk and cotton, those of cotton must obviously be 

 much the cheaper. Hence, for mourning dresses cotton sackcloth is used : and the un- 

 bleached cotton being of a dirty white, this has by association established itself as the 



mourning color. 



VOL. xiii. 11 



