CEREMONY IN GENERAL. 5 



stone, &quot; with the punctiliousness of manners shown by the 

 Balonda.&quot; &quot; The Malagasy have many different forms of 

 salutation, of which they make liberal use. . . . Hence in 

 their general intercourse there is much that is stiff, formal, 

 and precise.&quot; A Samoan orator, when speaking in Parlia 

 ment, &quot; is not contented with a mere word of salutation, 

 such as gentlemen/ but he must, with great minuteness, 

 go over the names and titles, and a host of ancestral refer 

 ences, of which they are proud.&quot; 



That ceremonial restraint, preceding other forms of re 

 straint, continues ever to be the most widely-diffused form of 

 restraint, we are shown by such facts as that in all inter 

 course between members of each society, the decisively gov 

 ernmental actions are usually prefaced by this government 

 of observances. The embassy may fail, negotiation may be 

 brought to a close by war, coercion of one society by another 

 may set up wider political rule with its peremptory com 

 mands ; but there is habitually this more general and vague 

 regulation of conduct preceding the more special and defi 

 nite. So within a community, acts of relatively stringent 

 control coming from ruling agencies, civil and religious, be 

 gin with and are qualified by, this ceremonial control ; which 

 not only initiates but, in a sense, envelops all other. Func 

 tionaries, ecclesiastical and political, coercive as their pro 

 ceedings may be, conform them in large measure to the re 

 quirements of courtesy. The priest, however, arrogant his 

 assumption, makes a civil salute; and the officer of the law 

 performs his duty subject to certain propitiatory words and 

 movements. 



Yet another indication of primordialism may be named. 

 This species of control establishes itself anew with every 

 fresh relation among individuals. Even between intimates 

 greetings signifying continuance of respect, begin each 

 renewal of intercourse. And in presence of a stranger, say 

 in a railway-carriage, a certain self-restraint, joined with 



some small act like the offer of a newspaper, shows the spon- 

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