132 CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



cases even a complimentary observance. In Fiji, on the 

 day for paying tribute 



&quot;The chief of Somo Somo, who had previously stripped off his 

 robes, then sat down, and removed even the train or covering, which 

 was of immense length, from his waist. He gave it to the speaker,&quot; 

 who gave him in return a piece large enough only for the purposes 

 of decency. The rest of the Somo-Somo chiefs, each of whom on 

 coming on the ground had a train of several yards in length, stripped 

 themselves entirely, left their trains, and walked away . . . thus 

 leaving all the Somo-Somo people naked.&quot; 



Further we read that during Cook s stay at Tahiti, two men 

 of superior rank &quot; came on board, and each singled out his 

 friend . . . this ceremony consisted in taking off great part 

 of their clothes and putting them upon us.&quot; And then in 

 another Polynesian island, Samoa, this complimentary act 

 is greatly abridged: only the girdle is presented. 



With such facts to give us the clue, we can scarcely 

 doubt that surrender of clothing originates those obeisances 

 which are made by uncovering the body, more or less exten 

 sively. All degrees of uncovering have this meaning. 

 From Ibn Batuta s account of his journey into the Soudan, 

 Mr. Tylor cites the statement that &quot; women may only come 

 unclothed into the presence of the Sultan of Melli, and even 

 the Sultan s own daughters must conform to the custom; &quot; 

 and what doubt we might reasonably feel as to the existence 

 of an obeisance thus carried to its original extreme, is re 

 moved 011 reading in Speke that at the present time, at the 

 court of Uganda, &quot; stark-naked, full-grown women are the 

 valets.&quot; Elsewhere in Africa an incomplete, though still 

 considerable, unclothing as an obeisance occurs. In 

 Abyssinia inferiors bare their bodies down to the girdle in 

 presence of superiors; &quot; but to equals the corner of the 

 cloth is removed only for a time.&quot; The like occurs in Poly 

 nesia. The Tahitians uncover &quot; the body as low as the 

 waist, in the presence of the king; &quot; and in the Society 

 Isles generally, &quot; the lower ranks of people, by way of re 

 spect, strip off their upper garment in the presence of their &quot; 



