PRESENTS. 85 



American races which in past times reached, under despotic 

 governments, considerable degrees of civilization. Torque- 

 mada writes that in Mexico, &quot; when any one goes to salute 

 the lord or king, he takes with him flowers and gifts.&quot; Of 

 the Chibchas we read that &quot; when they brought a present 

 in order to negotiate or speak with the cazique (for no one 

 went to visit him without bringing a gift), they entered 

 with the head and body bent downwards. 7 Among the 

 Yucatanese, &quot; when there was hunting or fishing or salt- 

 carrying, they always gave a part to the lord.&quot; Peoples of 

 other types, as the Malayo-Polynesians, living in kindred 

 stages of social progress under the undisputed sway of 

 chiefs, exemplify this same custom. Speaking of things 

 bartered to the Tahitian populace for food, native cloth, &c., 

 Forster says &quot; However, we found that after some time all 

 this acquired wealth flowed as presents, or voluntary ac 

 knowledgments, into the treasure of the various chiefs.&quot; In 

 Fiji, again, &quot; whoever asks a favour of a chief, or seeks civil 

 intercourse with him, is expected to bring a present.&quot; 



These last cases show us how making presents passes 

 from a voluntary propitiation into a compulsory propitia 

 tion; for on reading that &quot; the Tahitian chiefs plundered the 

 plantations of their subjects at will,&quot; and that in Fiji, 

 &quot; chiefs take the property and persons of others by force; &quot; 

 it becomes manifest that present-making develops into the 

 giving of a part to prevent loss of the whole. It is the 

 policy at once to satisfy cupidity and to express submission. 

 The Malagasy, slaves as well as others, occasionally make 

 presents of provisions to their chiefs, as an acknowledgment 

 of homage.&quot; And it is inferable that in proportion to the 

 power of chiefs, will be the anxiety to please them; both 

 by forestalling their greedy desires and by displaying 

 loyalty. 



In few if any cases, however, does the carrying of gifts 

 to a chief become so developed a usage in a simple tribe. 

 At first the head man, not much differentiated from the rest, 

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