MALLERY. J PARTISAN—FRIEND—PEACE. 385 
is peace or friendship with the whites, the hand shaking of the latter is 
adopted as in Fig. 230, also taken from the Dakota Calendar, and referring 
to thie peace made ip 1855 by General Harney, at Fort 
Pierre, with a number of the tribes of the Dakotas. 
It is noticeable that while the ceremonial gesture of 
uniting or linking hands *is common and ancient in 
token of peace, the practice of shaking hands on 
meeting, now the annoying etiquette of the Indians in their intercourse 
with whites, was not until very recently and is even now seldom 
used by them between each other, and is clearly a foreign importation. 
Their fancy for affectionate greeting was in giving a pleasant bodily 
sensation by rubbing each other on the breast, abdomen, and limbs, or 
by a hug. The senseless and inconvenient custom of shaking hands is, 
indeed, by no means general throughout the world, and in the extent to 
which it prevails in the United States is a subject of ridicule by foreign- 
ors. The Chinese, with a higher conception of politeness, shake their 
own hands. The account of a recent observer of the meeting of two 
polite Celestials is: ‘‘ Each placed the fingers of one hand over the fist 
of the other, so that the thumbs met, and then standing a few feet apart 
raised his hands gently up and down in front of his breast. For special 
courtesy, after the foregoing gesture, they place the hand which had been 
the actor in it on the stomach of its owner, not on that part of the inter- 
locutor, the whole proceeding being subjective, but perhaps a relic of 
objective performance.” In Miss Bird’s Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Lon- 
don, 1880, the following is given as the salutatory etiquette of that 
empire: “As acquaintances come in sight of each other they slacken their 
pace and approach with downcast eyes and averted faces as if neither 
were worthy of beholding each other; then they bow low, so low as to 
bring the face, still kept carefully averted, on a level with the knees, on 
which the palms of the hands are pressed. Afterwards, during the 
friendly strife of each to give the pas to the other, the palms of the hands 
are diligently rubbed against each other.” 
The interlocking of the fingers of both hands aboye given as an Indian 
sign (other instances being mentioned 
under the head of SIGNALS, infra) is 
alsoreported by R. Brough Smyth, Abo- 
rigines of Victoria, loc. cit., Vol. I, p. 
308, as made by the natives of Cooper’s Fia, 231. 
Creek, Australia, to express the highest degree of friendship, including 
a special form of hospitality in which the wives of the entertainer per- 
formed a part. Fig. 251 is reproduced from a cut in the work referred to. 
But besides this interlocked form of signifying the union of friendship 
the hands are frequently grasped together. Sometimes the sign is ab- 
breviated by simply extending the hand asif about to grasp that of 
another, and sometimes the two forefingers are laid side by side, which 
last sign also means, same, brother and companion. For description and 
25 AE 
Fic. 230. 
