134 CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



zuma were obliged to take off their shoes when they came 

 into his presence: &quot; the significance of this act being so 

 great that as &quot; Michoacan was independent of Mexico, the 

 sovereign took the title of cazonzi that is, l shod. Kin 

 dred accounts of Asiatics have made the usage familiar 

 to us. In Burmah, &quot; even in the streets and highways, a 

 European, if he meets with the king, or joins his party, is 

 obliged to take off his shoes.&quot; And in Persia, every one 

 who approaches the royal presence must bare his feet. 



Verification of these interpretations is yielded by the 

 equally obvious interpretations of certain usages which we 

 similarly meet with in societies where extreme expressions 

 of subjection are required. I refer to the appearing in pres 

 ence of rulers dressed in coarse clothing the clothing of 

 slaves. In Mexico, whenever Montezuma s attendants 

 &quot; entered his apartments, they had first to take off their rich 

 costumes and put on meaner garments.&quot; In Peru, along 

 with the rule that a subject should appear before the Ynca 

 with a burden on his back, simulating servitude, and along 

 with the rule that he should be barefooted, further 

 simulating servitude, there went, as we have seen, the rule 

 that &quot; no lord, however great he might be, entered the 

 presence of the Ynca in rich clothing, but in humble attire,&quot; 

 again simulating servitude. A kindred though less ex 

 treme usage exists in Dahomey: the highest subjects may 

 &quot; ride on horseback, be carried in hammocks, wear silk, 

 maintain a numerous retinue, with large umbrellas of their 

 own order, flags, trumpets, and other musical instruments; 

 but, on their entrance at the royal gate, all these insignia are 

 laid aside.&quot; Even in mediaeval Europe, submission was ex 

 pressed by taking off those parts of the dress and appendages 

 which were inconsistent with the appearance of servitude. 

 Thus, in France, in 1467, the head men of the town, surren 

 dering to a victorious duke, &quot; brought to his camp with them 

 three hundred of the best citizens in their shirts, barehead 

 ed, and barelegged, who presented the keies of the citie to 



