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The young queen refuses the offer. The refusal is indicated by the direction of the scroll issuing from her mouth. It is turned backward, instead of forward toward the priest as would be the case if she assented to the marriage.

The H-men explains that Móo, being a daughter of the royal family, by law and custom must marry one of her brothers. The youth listens to the decision with due respect for the priest, as shown by his arm being placed across his breast, the left hand resting on the right shoulder. He does not accept the refusal in a meek spirit, however. His clinched fist, his foot raised, as if in the act of stamping, betoken anger and disappointment, while the attendant behind him expostulates, counselling patience and resignation, judging by the position and expression of her extended left hand, palm upward.

Herodotus tells us that the Egyptians observed the customs of their ancestors and did not adopt new ones." Among them there were two tokens of respect used by inferiors in the presence of their superiors. They are remarkable enough to arrest the attention of any one inquiring into their manners and customs.

One consisted in placing an arm across the chest, the hand resting on the opposite shoulder; the other, in putting the forearm, the right generally, across the chest-the hand, with closed fingers, being over the heart. (Plate XLI.)

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'It was the law among the Mayas, that, in order to preserve the royal blood from admixture and contamination, the girls should marry their brothers. The same custom obtained in Egypt, Chaldea, Greece, and many other places from the remotest antiquity. The gods even observed the practice. We are told that Jupiter married his sister Juno. In Peru and other countries of the Western Continent, royal brothers wedded their royal sisters.

'Herodotus, Hist., lib. ii.,

lxxix.

'Sir Gardner Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, illust.

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