CEREMONY OP RUBBING NOSES. 205 



Uttering something in a most dolorous voice ; they 

 then squatted themselves down and held up their 

 faces ; my companion standing over them, one 

 after another, placed the bridge of his nose at right 

 angles to theirs, and commenced pi'essing. This 

 lasted rather longer than a cordial shake of the 

 hand with us ; and as we vary the force of the 

 grasp of the hand in shaking, so do they in press- 

 ing. During the process they uttered comfortable 

 little grunts, very much in the same manner as 

 two pigs do when rubbing against each other. I 

 noticed that the slave would press noses with any 

 one he met, indifferently either before or after his 

 master the chief. Although among these savages 

 the chief has absolute power of life and death over 

 his slave, yet there is an entire absence of cere- 

 mony between them. Mr. Burchell has remarked 

 the same thing in Southern Africa with the rude 

 Bachapins. Where civilization has arrived at a 

 certain point, complex formalities soon arise be- 

 tween the different grades of society : thus, at Ta- 

 hiti, all were formally obliged to uncover them- 

 selves as low as the waist in presence of the king. 

 The ceremony of pressing noses having been 

 duly completed with all present, we seated our- 

 selves in a circle in front of one of the hovels, 

 and rested there half an hour. All the hovels have 

 nearly the same form and dimensions, and all 

 agree in being filthily dirty. They resemble a 

 cow-shed with one end open, but having a parti- 

 tion a little way within, with a square hole in it, 

 making a small, gloomy chamber. In this the in- 

 habitants keep all their property, and when the 

 weather is cold they sleep there. They eat, how- 

 ever, and pass their time in the open part in front. 

 My guides having finished their pipes, we con- 

 tinued our walk. The path led through the same 

 II.— S 



