In the year 1542 the Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto, received a visit in Florida from a native chief named Guachoya, and during their interview the latter sneezed. Immediately his attendants arose and saluted him with respectful gestures, at the same time saying: “May the Sun guard thee, be with thee, enlighten thee, magnify thee, protect thee, favor thee,” and other similar good wishes. And the Spaniards who were present were impressed by the fact that, in connection with sneezing, even more elaborate ceremonies were observed by savage tribes than those which obtained among civilized nations. And hence they reasoned that such observances were natural and instinctive with all mankind.[393] We have the testimony of the earliest English explorers that the custom of salutation after sneezing was common in the remotest portions of Africa and in the far East. Speke and Grant were unable to discover any trace of religion among the natives of equatorial Africa, except in their practice of uttering an Arabic ejaculation or prayer whenever a person sneezed.[394] The Portuguese traveler, Godinho, wrote that whenever the emperor of Monomotapa sneezed, acclamations were universal throughout his realm; and in Guinea in the last century, whenever a person of rank sneezed, every one present knelt down, clapped their hands, and wished him every blessing. The courtiers of the king of Sennaar in Nubia are wont on the occasion of a royal sneeze to turn their backs on their sovereign while vigorously slapping the right hip.[395] Among the Zulu tribes, sneezing is viewed as a favorable symptom in a sick person, and the natives are accustomed to return thanks after it. In Madagascar, when a child sneezes, its mother invokes the divine blessing, conformably to European usage; and in Persia the sneezer is the recipient of congratulations and good wishes. In the “Zend-Avesta,” or sacred writings of the Persian religion, is the injunction: “And whensoever it be that thou hearest a sneeze given by thy neighbor, thou shalt say unto him, _Ahunavar Ashim-Vuhu_, and so shall it be well with thee.”[396] In Egypt, if a man sneeze, he says, “Praise be to God!” and all present, with the exception of servants, rejoin, “God have mercy upon you!”[397] The Omahas, Dakotas, and other Sioux tribes of American Indians attach a peculiar importance to sneezing. Thus, if one of their number sneeze once, he believes that his name has been called either by his son, his wife, or some intimate friend. Hence he at once exclaims, “My son!” But if he sneeze twice, he says, “My son and his mother!”[398]