OBEISANCES. 131 



clear. &quot; When the Siamese salute one another, they join 

 the hands, raising them before the face or above the 

 head.&quot; Of the eight obeisances in China, the least pro 

 found is that of putting the hands together and raising them 

 before the breast. Even among ourselves a remnant of 

 this action is traceable. An obsequious shopman or fussy 

 innkeeper, may be seen to join and loosely move the 

 slightly raised hands one over another, in a way sug 

 gestive of derivation from this primitive sign of sub 

 mission. 



389. A group of obeisances having a connected, 

 though divergent, root, come next to be dealt with. Those 

 which we have thus far considered do not directly affect the 

 subject person s dress. But from modifications of dress, 

 either in position, state, or kind, a series of ceremonial ob 

 servances result. 



The conquered man, prostrate before his conqueror, and 

 becoming himself a possession, simultaneously loses posses 

 sion of whatever things he has about him; and therefore, 

 surrendering his weapons, he also yields up, if the victor 

 demands it, whatever part of his dress is worth taking. 

 Hence the nakedness, partial or complete, of the captive, 

 becomes additional evidence of his subjugation. That it 

 was so regarded of old in the East, there is clear proof. In 

 Isaiah xx. 2 4, we read &quot; And the Lord said, like as my 

 servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years 

 for a sign ... so shall the king of Assyria lead away the 

 Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young 

 and old, naked and barefoot.&quot; And that the Assyrians 

 completely stripped their captives is shown by their sculp 

 tures. Nay, even our own days furnish evidence ; as at the 

 beginning of the Afghan war, when the Afreedees were 

 reported to have stripped certain prisoners they had taken. 

 Naturally, then, the taking off and yielding up of cloth 

 ing becomes a mark of political submission, and in some 



