GREETING BY GESTURE. 643 



plimented person. Schweinfurth says of the Dyoor that mutual 

 spitting betokened the most affectionate good-will. 



The inhabitants of Hainan gracefully greet a guest by extend- 

 ing the arms, the hands open with the finger-tips touching, or 

 nearly so, and drawing them inward with an inviting motion. 

 They bid farewell by extending the open hands with the palms 

 upward and slightly inclined outward, in a movement as if hand- 

 ing the friend on his way. In arctic America there is a queer 

 example of returning a kiss for a blow. A stranger coming to 

 the village is regaled with chant and dance, after which he folds 

 his arms, and the head Ancoot hits him as hard as he can on the 

 cheek, often knocking him down. The actors then change parts, 

 and the visitor knocks him in the same way, after which they 

 kiss (probably on the cheek, but not described), and the ceremony 

 is over. 



In this connection the supposed hand-kissing struggle to ex- 

 plain the hand-grasp may again be mentioned with an additional 

 criticism. The hand-grasp was common among those peoples of 

 the world who now use it in greeting before altruism had made 

 so much progress as to reverse many of the old conventions of 

 precedence. 



After examination of the whole subject there appears to be 

 significance in the connection before suggested between the offer- 

 ing of the unarmed hand and the strictly military salute with 

 sword, rifle, and cannon. They all display temporary defenseless- 

 ness, though not now through fear, but the reverse trust and 

 confidence and they are always returned with rivalry only in 

 the demonstration of amity. This is but one instance to prove 

 that militancy is not a mere incarnation of evil and drag upon 

 civilization. Spencer accuses it of paralyzing humanity through 

 fear, of originating deception and lies, and of antagonism to jus- 

 tice and mercy. But militancy has shown a most interesting and 

 instructive evolution within itself. Modern armies, by the edu- 

 cation and discipline enforced, furnish to the world perhaps as 

 large a number of really valuable men as they cost. 



It will be noticed that in proportion to advance in civilization 

 and culture, gestural salutations as is also true of the verbal 

 are exchanged or returned, thus denoting a mutual sentiment or 

 sympathy. A gesture of greeting is now seldom made exclu- 

 sively by one class to be merely received by another, but meets 

 with reciprocity, though often in abbreviation. It is not con- 

 tended that the most degrading theory of the origin of some of 

 the gestures treated of may not be correctly applied to some 

 tribes and regions, though it is suggested, from the information 

 given by sign-language and from many compared facts, that 

 among other peoples those gestures originated in different and 



