It is noticeable that while the ceremonial gesture of uniting or linking hands is common and ancient in token of peace, the practice of shaking hands on meeting, now the annoying etiquette of the Indians in their intercourse with whites, was not until very recently and is even now seldom used by them between each other, and is clearly a foreign importation.  Their fancy for affectionate greeting was in giving a pleasant bodily, sensation by rubbing each other on the breast, abdomen, and limbs, or by a hug.  The senseless and inconvenient custom of shaking hands is, indeed, by no means general throughout the world, and in the extent to which it prevails in the United States is a subject of ridicule by foreigners.  The Chinese, with a higher conception of politeness, shake their own hands.  The account of a recent observer of the meeting of two polite Celestials is:  “Each placed the fingers of one hand over the fist of the other, so that the thumbs met, and then standing a few feet apart raised his hands gently up and down in front of his breast.  For special courtesy, after the foregoing gesture, they place the hand which had been the actor in it on the stomach of its owner, not on that part of the interlocutor, the whole proceeding being subjective, but perhaps a relic of objective performance.”  In Miss Bird’s Unbeaten Trades in Japan, London, 1880, the following is given as the salutatory etiquette of that empire:  “As acquaintances come in sight of each other they slacken their pace and approach with downcast eyes and averted faces as if neither were worthy of beholding each other; then they bow low, so low as to bring the face, still kept carefully averted, on a level with the knees, on which the palms of the hands are pressed.  Afterwards, during the friendly strife of each to give the pas to the other, the palms of the hands are diligently rubbed against each other.”

[Illustration:  Fig. 231.]

The interlocking of the fingers of both hands above given as an Indian sign (other instances being mentioned under the head of SIGNALS, infra) is also reported by R. Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, loc. cit., Vol.  II, p. 308, as made by the natives of Cooper’s Creek, Australia, to express the highest degree of friendship, including a special form of hospitality in which the wives of the entertainer performed a part.  Fig. 231 is reproduced from a cut in the work referred to.

But besides this interlocked form of signifying the union of friendship the hands are frequently grasped together.  Sometimes the sign is abbreviated by simply extending the hand as if about to grasp that of another, and sometimes the two forefingers are laid side by side, which last sign also means, same, brother and companion.  For description and illustration of these three signs, see respectively pages 521, 527, and 317.  A different execution of the same conception of union or linking to signify friend is often made as follows:  Hook the curved index over the curved forefinger of the left hand, the palm of the latter pointing forward, the palm of the right hand being turned toward the face; remaining fingers and thumbs being closed. (Dakota VIII.) Fig. 232.