OBEISANCES. 119 



this profoundest of obeisances is rendered a less profound 

 one. In performing a full-length prostration there is 

 passed through an attitude in which the body is on the 

 knees with the head on the ground ; and to rise, it is needful 

 to draw up the knees before raising the head and getting 

 on the feet. Hence this attitude may be considered as an 

 incomplete prostration. It is a very general one. Among 

 the Coast Negroes, if a native &quot; goes to visit his superior, or 

 meets him by chance, he immediately falls on his knees, 

 and thrice successively kisses the earth.&quot; In acknowl- 

 ment of his inferiority, the king of the Brass people never 

 spoke to the king of the Ibos &quot; without going down on his 

 knees and touching the ground with his head.&quot; At Em- 

 bomma, on the Congo, &quot; the mode of salutation is by gently 

 clapping the hands, and an inferior at the same time goes 

 on his knees and kisses the bracelet on the superior s ancle.&quot; 



Often the humility of this obeisance is increased by 

 emphasizing the contact with the earth. On the lower 

 Niger, &quot; as a mark of great respect, men prostrate them 

 selves, and strike their heads against the ground.&quot; When, 

 in past ages, the Emperor of Russia was crowned, the nobil 

 ity did homage by &quot; bending down their heads, arid knock 

 ing them at his feet to the very ground.&quot; In China at the 

 present time, among the eight kinds of obeisances, increas 

 ing in humility, the fifth is kneeling and striking the head 

 on the ground; the sixth, kneeling and thrice knocking the 

 head, which again doubled makes the seventh, and trebled, 

 the eighth: this last being due to the Emperor and to 

 Heaven. Among the Hebrews, repetition had a kindred 

 meaning. &quot; Jacob bowed himself to the ground seven 

 timers, until he came near to his brother.&quot; 



Naturally this attitude of the conquered man, used by 

 the slave before his master and the subject before his ruler, 

 becomes that of the worshipper before his deity. We find 

 complete prostrations made whether the being to be propiti 

 ated is visible or invisible. &quot; Abraham fell upon his face &quot; 



