Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 38.djvu/660

642 to the right. "Heart easy or smooth." "My bosom's lord sits lightly on its throne."

The kalmucks salute their high chiefs by pressing the forehead with the clinched hand, and then touching the chief's side with the same hand. The chief responds by placing one of his hands on the saluter's shoulders. This may be translated as "My head is dependent on the emotion of your heart"; and the response is, "I accept your offering, and recognize that I possess you."

Intimately connected with the imagery of the heart is the union by exchange of blood. In ancient Persia, as in modern Africa, it was common to open a vein and then present the blood to be drunk by the friend. This was and is often mutual. Perhaps it is straining the illustration to infer that when the Wanika, after the hand-grasp, press together the balls of their respective thumbs, it is to effect the union of the pulsations. It is, however, in point that the Norse pledge of friendship was to allow the blood to flow between the pierced and grasped hands, and it has been conjectured that "striking hands," often alluded to in the Old Testament (e. g., Proverbs, vi, 1) as a ceremony of covenant, meant an actual intermingling of blood from the pierced palms, or at least was a relic and symbol of that form. But it is fanciful to explain the simple hand-grasp from this blood-mixing; indeed, all symbolism should be closely scrutinized. Stanley reports that the natives of Panga, as a peace greeting being at a distance from the party greeted—poured water on their own heads and sprinkled their bodies with it. Much of the symbolism about the solvent and cleansing qualities of water, including origins of lustration and baptism, might be deduced from this performance, but it was simply the sign of coolness and refreshment elsewhere mentioned in these pages.

—It is impossible, within present limits, to detail the world's many forms of gestural salutation. They, like all gesture-signs, show different conceptions of the same general intent and different modes of expressing the same concept. They are also in many cases so abbreviated and modulated as to be intelligible in their present forms only through comparison and investigation. A few salutes having special interest may be mentioned.

The important mystic agency of saliva has before been noticed in connection with the hand-grasp. It is too large a topic to be now dwelt upon; but some examples may be given of its immediate connection with salutation. Among the Masai, spitting expresses the greatest good-will and the best of wishes. It takes the place of the compliments of the season. They spit when they meet, and do the same on parting. In some of the South Sea islands they spit on the hands and then rub the face of the