GREETING BY GESTURE. 487 



A tribe of the Eskimos was described by Captain Ross as pull- 

 ing their own noses for greeting, which he thought had reference 

 to the application of snow as a cure for the frost-bite. It might oc- 

 casionally have been a signal or warning to a friend that his nose 

 required snow, but as a greeting it was merely symbolic of the 

 rubbing or pressing of noses common both in high and low lati- 

 tudes. This pressing itself is abbreviated or perhaps indicated in 

 New Guinea by friends simply touching with the hand the tips of 

 their respective noses. The Todas, in respectful address and on 

 approach to sacred places, raise the thumb-edge of the right hand 

 vertically to the nose and forehead. This probably is the gesture 

 of an imprecation the penalty being that the head may be split 

 open and has no connection with either smelling or with rubbing 

 the nose, though easily mistaken for those actions. Another 

 symbolic gesture of salutation which is given by the Aino women 

 between themselves may be mentioned. They draw the forefinger 

 of the right hand between the forefinger and thumb of the left, 

 then raise both hands to the forehead, palms up, and then rub the 

 upper lip under the nose with the forefinger of the right hand. 

 This might be translated as expressing admiration for the good 

 odor imputed to the other lady. 



Taste. After smelling, the gustatory employment of the lips 

 comes in order of time and of culture planes. Regarded merely 

 as a salutation, the kiss seems to have been used between men be- 

 fore it was applied between the sexes e. g., Cyrus kissed his 

 grandfather in formal reverence "because he wished to honor 

 him." But perhaps this distinction was only because there was 

 no public salutation adopted for men to women, on account of 

 woman's greater seclusion. In the old days the women were re- 

 garded as inferiors, and the erect posture required for a mutual 

 and ceremonial kiss in public was subversive of some regulations 

 concerning superior and inferior to be discussed later. The 

 practice of kissing between males, seeming to cultured peoples 

 ludicrous if not disgusting, is still common in continental EurojDe 

 and in other less -civilized regions, but it is seldom performed by 

 the two pairs of lips. The lips of one or successively of both actors 

 are generally applied to the cheek. But sometimes, when kissing 

 the cheek has been reported, the action was in fact misunderstood. 

 In addition to the instances mentioned elsewhere, this error would 

 naturally attend the " blowing upon our ears," as narrated by Joutel 

 of the natives of Louisiana in 1685. Also to-day in Arabia, indeed 

 commonly in the Orient, the lips are applied to the flowing ends 

 of the saluted man's beard. These appendages, to which venera- 

 tion is always attached, are solemnly raised to the saluter's mouth 

 and kissed. That was the treacherous salutation of Joab to Amasa. 



The mutual kiss of affection or passion by the lips between 



