102 CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



mutual propitiation by gifts was the act from which barter 

 arose: the expectation that the present received would be 

 of like worth with that given, being gradually established, 

 and the exchanged articles simultaneously losing the 

 character of presents. One may, indeed, see the connexion 

 between the two in the familiar cases of gifts made by 

 European travellers to native chiefs; as where Mungo Park 

 writes &quot; Presented Mansa Kussari [the chief man of Juli- 

 funda] with some amber, coral, and scarlet, with which he 

 appeared to be perfectly satisfied, and sent a bullock in 

 return.&quot; Such transactions show us both the original 

 meaning of the initial present as propitiatory, and the idea 

 that the responsive present should have an approximately- 

 like value : implying informal barter. Xay more. Certain 

 usages of the Xorth American Indians suggest that even a 

 circulating medium may originate from propitiatory pres 

 ents. Catlin writes: 



&quot;Wampum has been invariably manufactured, and highly valued 

 as a circulating medium (instead of coins, of which the Indians have 

 no knowledge) ; so many strings, or so many hand s-breadth, being 

 the fixed value of a horse, a gun, a robe, &c. In treaties, the wam- 

 pum_belt has been passed as the pledge of friendship, and from time 

 immemorial sent to hostile tribes, as the messenger of peace; or paid 

 by so many fathoms length, as tribute to conquering enemies. 1 &quot; 



Speculation aside, we have to note how the propitiatory 

 present becomes a social observance. That along with the 

 original form of it, signifying allegiance, there goes the 

 spread of it as a means to friendship, was shown in ancient 

 America. Of the Yucatanese we read that, &quot; at their visits 

 the Indians always carry with them presents to be given 

 away, according to their position; those visited respond by 

 another gift.&quot; In Japan, so rigorously ceremonious, the 

 stages of the descent are well shown. There are the periodic 

 presents to the Mikado, expressive of loyalty; there is &quot; the 

 giving of presents from inferiors to superiors; &quot; and be 

 tween equals &quot; it is customary on the occasion of a first visit 



