An Ethiopian takes the robe of another, and ties it about his own waist, so that he leaves his friend half naked.  This custom of undressing on these occasions takes other forms; sometimes men place themselves naked before the person whom they salute; it is to show their humility, and that they are unworthy of appearing in his presence.  This was practised before Sir Joseph Banks, when he received the visits of two female Otaheitans.  Their innocent simplicity, no doubt, did not appear immodest in the eyes of the virtuoso.

Sometimes they only undress partially.  The Japanese only take off a slipper; the people of Arracan their sandals in the street, and their stockings in the house.

In the progress of time it appears servile to uncover oneself.  The grandees of Spain claim the right of appearing covered before the king, to show that they are not so much subjected to him as the rest of the nation:  and (this writer truly observes) we may remark that the English do not uncover their heads so much as the other nations of Europe.  Mr. Hobhouse observes that uncovering the head, with the Turks, is a mark of indecent familiarity; in their mosques the Franks must keep their hats on.  The Jewish custom of wearing their hats in their synagogues is, doubtless, the same oriental custom.

In a word, there is not a nation, observes the humorous Montaigne, even to the people who when they salute turn their backs on their friends, but that can be justified in their customs.

The negroes are lovers of ludicrous actions, and hence all their ceremonies seem farcical.  The greater part pull the fingers till they crack.  Snelgrave gives an odd representation of the embassy which the king of Dahomy sent to him.  The ceremonies of salutation consisted in the most ridiculous contortions.  When two negro monarchs visit, they embrace in snapping three times the middle finger.

Barbarous nations frequently imprint on their salutations the dispositions of their character.  When the inhabitants of Carmena (says Athenaeus) would show a peculiar mark of esteem, they breathed a vein, and presented for the beverage of their friend the flowing blood.  The Franks tore the hair from their head, and presented it to the person they saluted.  The slave cut his hair, and offered it to his master.

The Chinese are singularly affected in their personal civilities.  They even calculate the number of their reverences.  These are the most remarkable postures.  The men move their hands in an affectionate manner, while they are joined together on the breast, and bow their head a little.  If they respect a person, they raise their hands joined, and then lower them to the earth in bending the body.  If two persons meet after a long separation, they both fall on their knees and bend the face to the earth, and this ceremony they repeat two or three times.  Surely we may differ here with the sentiment of Montaigne, and confess this ceremony to be ridiculous.  It arises from their national affectation.  They substitute artificial ceremonies for natural actions.