Note 248 — Chapter IX

In Ffon, “nyin” is a sneeze; manifestly, like ours, an imitative word. Almost throughout Africa, there is some superstition connected with this convulsion. In Senaar, courtiers turn the back, and slap the right thigh. Old authors tell us that when the “King of Monomotapa” sneezed, it became a national concern. Those nearest the royal person howled a salutation, which was taken up by the antechamber; and when the horrid cry had run through the palace, it was re-echoed by the whole city. In Europe the superstition is, that St. Gregory instituted a benediction upon the sneezer, because during a certain pestilence the unseemly act was a fatal symptom.