ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS. 197 



The clergyman in our times, when he offers a prayer, 

 frequently throws up both arms in token of submission 

 to God's will. The bushranger in the backwoods of 

 America, when some member of the Vigilance Com- 

 mittee comes upon him, is told to throiu Jip his arms, 

 or he will be shot. 



There is another form of using the hands in token 

 of submission, that is by joining both palms, as children 

 are made to do when they pray. This is the form 

 universally adopted in India when a subordinate ad- 

 dresses a superior, or wants some concession. I have 

 met with only one form of this kind on the cylinders. 



Curiously enough, villagers and prisoners in India, 

 as a sign of respect and extreme submission, besides 

 joining the palms, stand on one leg. This token of 

 submission was evidently not unknown in Assyria, for 

 Count d'Alviella on pi. v, fig. /, gives two ' fellahs ' 

 standing on one leg, exactly as the Indians do, as sup- 

 porters to a date tree. This drawing is taken from 

 the brass plates of Mosul. 



If it were my object here to study the origin of 

 symbols in general, I might find a great deal in these 

 cylinders to suggest how one symbol was gradually 

 transformed into another; and how, while passing into 

 the possession of other nations, with other traditions 

 and surroundings, it acquired a new form which may 

 have entirely masked its real origin. 



