Greenlanders have none, and laugh at the idea of one person being
inferior to another.
Islanders near the Philippines take a person’s hand or foot, and rub it
over their face.
Laplanders apply their noses strongly against the person they salute.
In New Guinea, they place leaves upon the head of those they salute.
In the Straits of the Sound they raise the left foot of the person
saluted, pass it gently over the right leg, and thence over the face.
The inhabitants of the Philippines bend very low, placing their hands on
their cheeks, and raise one foot in the air, with the knee bent.
An Ethiopian takes the robe of another and ties it about him, so as to
leave his friend almost naked.
The Japanese take off a slipper, and the people of Arracan their
sandals, in the street, and their stockings in the house, when they
salute.
Two Negro kings on the coast of Africa, salute by snapping the middle
finger three times.
The inhabitants of Carmene, when they would show a particular
attachment, breathe a vein, and present the blood to their friend as a
beverage.
If the Chinese meet, after a long separation, they fall on their knees,
bend their face to the earth two or three times, and use many other
affected modes. They have also a kind of ritual, or “academy of
compliments,” by which they regulate the number of bows, genuflections,
and words to be spoken upon any occasion. Ambassadors practise these
ceremonies forty days before they appear at court.
In Otaheite, they rub their noses together.
The Dutch, who are considered as great eaters, have a morning
salutation, common amongst all ranks, “Smaakelyk eeten?”--“May you eat a
hearty dinner.” Another is, “Hoe vaart awe.”--“How do you sail?”
adopted, no doubt, in the early periods of the republic, when they were
all navigators and fishermen.
The usual salutation at Cairo is, “How do you sweat?” a dry hot skin
being a sure indication of a destructive ephemeral fever. Some author
has observed, in contrasting the haughty Spaniard with the frivolous
Frenchman, that the proud, steady gait and inflexible solemnity of the
former, were expressed in his mode of salutation, “Come esta?”--“How do
you stand?” whilst the “Comment vous portez-vous?” “How do you carry
yourself?” was equally expressive of the gay motion and incessant action
of the latter.
The common salutation in the southern provinces of China, amongst the
lower orders, is, “Ya fan?”--“Have you eaten your rice?”
In Africa, a young woman, an intended bride, brought a little water in a
calabash, and kneeling down before her lover, desired him to wash his
hands; when he had done this, the girl, with a tear of joy sparkling in
her eyes, drank the water; this was considered as the greatest proof she
could give of her fidelity and attachment.
* * * * *
~Omniana.~