Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-08-17
FORMS OF SALVATION.

OF the many forms of salutation, the Gus
tom of shaking hands is the most common
among civilized nations. 1t undoubtedly
comes from remote barbarism, when men,
meeting, gave each other their weaponed
hands, as security against treaehery or sud-
den attack. On the European continent it
is usual for men who are intimate friends
to kiss one another, but this custom pre-.
walls only among the ladies in this country
and Great Britain. In the greater part of
Germany it is an act of politeness to kiss
the hand of q lady; but this privilege is
allowed IN Italy only to near relatives.
while in Russia 1t is extended to the fore
head. In the East and among the Sclayic
nations the character of salutations is quite
different. The custom of throwing ones
self upon the ground and kissing the feet
of the monarch prevails among the
Persians. In China an inferior upon
horseback meeting a superior dismounts
and waits till the latter has passed. In
Japan the inferior removes his sandals
when nesting his superior, crosses his
hands by placing the right hand in the left
sleeve, and with a slow, rocking motion OF
do not hurt mel. In Siam the inferior
pun Vic btkOlS HIS
superior, the latter sends forward one of
his slaves to see whether the former has
been eating anything, or carries with him
any smell at all offensive. If he does, he
is Immediately kicked out, without cere-
mony, but if not the attendant raises him
up. In Ceylon the inferior on meeting
superior throws himself upon the ground,
repeating the name and dignity of the lat
ter, who appears to take little notice of
the PROSTATE form as he passes it. Among
some tribes of the American Indians the
custom is to salute by rubbing noses
together. This custom is also COM
mon in the Friendly and Society
Islands, where it is returned by each
taking the hand of the other and rubbing it
upon his own nose and mouth. The Moors
of Morocco ride at full speed at a stranger,
as if they intended to run him down, and,
on arriving near, suddenly stop and fire
pistol over his head. In the PeIew Islands
the inhabitants grasp either the hand or
the foot of the one they wish to salute,
and rub their faces against it. The Ara
bians shake hands six or eight times, but if
persons of distinction, they embrace and
kiss several times, also kissing their own
hand. Women persons of rank permit
their fingers to be kissed, after long re-
fusal. In Turkey it is the custom to place
the hands upon the breast and bow TO the
person saluted. They are perhaps the
most affectionate in Burmah. Fancy the
following: A gentleman meets lady or
another gentleman, and applies his mouth
and nose closely to their cheek and draws
in his breath strongly, as if smelling de-
lightful perfume with both nose and
mouth. Hence in saying, "Give me
kiss, Burmese would say, "Give me
smell"
One of the provisions in the sundry
civil appropriation bill before Congress,
was for survey of the Atlantic and Cult
of Mexico coasts, with the Gulf Stream,
from its entrance into the Gulf, its course
through the Caribbean Sea, and into and
around the Sargosso Sea. This last-a sea of
weeds in the Atlantic Ocean, covering sew
eral thousandsquare miles-is not much bet.
ter known than when, nearly 400 years ago
Columbus ran his ships into its tangled |
masses of floating, but stationary, vegeta-
ton islands of the gulf weed, from few
feet to few yards across, or sometimes
like broad acres of drowned meadow.