The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1896-08-19

The O10or60e Att1tu0oo 1noe Aro A4oonoo
~ Di6srsnt Peoples.
For us Europeans the attitude Of TO
pose is sitting or lying down, and we
ore apt to believe that there can be no
others. Nevertheless numerous races
rest with crossed legs like our tailors;
others kne.l, and still others crouch
down. So sar AS we know, no work has
been written on this subject. Neverthe-
less il is important TO understand these
different attitudes and TO see under
what influences they vary. We may
thus avoid the error of representing saw
ages seated or lying down like Euro
peans-an error that was committed at
an anthropologic exhibition at Prague,
where plaster models Of Hottentots and
Zulus were shown seated in pastures
that real Hottentots never assume. Pho
tographs of these impossible groups were
sent to numerous anthropological soci-
cites. Primitive savages crouch down,
while their women kneel. The crouch
ing posture, fatiguing for US, is SO nat
ural to them that they can sleep in that
position. The low caste Hindoos sleep
thus, and in the Trocadero museum an
ancient terra Gotta figure shows
crouching Peruvian with closed eyes
and head inclined. A certain degree Of
civilization brings the position with
legs crossed as with our tailors, with
many variants, and higher civilization
causes the chair to be adopted But at
first the sitter does not place himself
squarely, with both legs hanging. He
raises one and keeps it on the seat.
Thus the classic attitude of the negro
is the crouching one, and that Of the
negress the kneeling. As for their chill
dren, they generally kneel like their
mothers, but rarely crouch. Exception
ally, negroes can be seen sitting cross
legged. But the fetch worshiping ne
gro, far from contact with the white,
crouches, though in divers fashions. In
different places Guinea, Kongo, sources
of the Nile) they make use of supports
30 to 80 centimeters G. to III inches)
high, cut from piece OF wood and OF
variable form, according to the country.
Sometimes Tin Guinea) it is az round
stick supported by single massive cen
tral foot or by three and even four feet.
At other times Con the Kongo) it is a
square whose sides, raised at right and
left, are upborne by four cylindrical
legs.
In the upper Nile regions (Dinkas and
Nouers) the seats have four feet, those
Of the lake regions have three; others,
lower, have only two large ones on the
sides. The seats of chiefs are higher and
have supports carved orepresent human
figures But in certain localities, i'll
more direct contact with Europeans the
chiefs sit on chairs, generally Of Eu-
ropean make. The Polynesians have
very different posture of repose. They
do not crouch, but sit with crossed legs
The same custom exists in all the Poly
nesian islands Hawaii, New Zealand,
etc.
Let us now examine the white races
of Europe and America who sit when
they rest. The crossleQged attitude ex-
lists no longer except among ilors
Crouching causes fatigue and is resorted
to only when it is desired to pick up or
gather something. Even when the white
man finds no seat he sits on the ground
with legs outstretched or half bent, as
is shown very frequently in photographs
of Russian or Roumanian peasants We
should note, however, among the women
great facility in kneeling at work, as
when they are washing linen.
The Semites have custom opposed to
ours; they make no use of chairs In
Mussulman countries the most custom
airy position is that called Turkish
with crossed legs like our tailors Some
times we may see Arabs resting with
their backs against wall, the legs half
bent, in an attitude which is not crouch
ing. but which approaches it. In Turkey
and Persia the favorite position is that
of kneeling. In the Persian salons the
invited guests who know the correct
thing place themselves on their knees
against the wall. The tailor attitude,
which both men and women assume, is
regarded as uncivil. Chairs are little
used, even among the rich when they
are employed one leg is placed on the
seat, Turkish fashion, while the other
hangs down; or, yet again, with one
hand they hold one foot, as is done in
the far east. Crouching is exceptional
In Egypt the fellahs retain the four
postures of their ancestors, the kneeling
the sitting, the crosslegged and the sit
ting upon the ground with legs Joined.
All four date from the eighteenth
dynasty. Revue Encyclopedique.