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Show 346 SEXUAL SELECTION: MAN. PAWL' IL Lcauty, and she was so immensely developed behind, that when seatecl on level ground she could not rise, ancl had to push herself along until she came to a slope. Some of the women in various negro triLes are similarly eharaetorised; and, according to Burton, the Somal men "are "said to choo~ their wives by ranging them in a lim-, '' and by picking her out who projects farthe. t a tergo,. "Nothing can be more hateful to a negro thau the "opposite form." 54 vVith rcspe<.:.t to colour, the negroes rallied J\fungo Park on the whiteness of his sl;:in and tho prominence of his no e, both of whieh they ·onsidered as" unsightly "and unnatural couformations." lie in return praised th glot!sy jet of tb ir ·kins and the lovely cleprcsf.:iion or their noses; this they said was ''honey-mouth," neverthelef's they gave him fooc1. The Africttn Moors, also,. c: knitted their brows and seemed to shudder" at the whiteness of his skin. On the eastern coast, the negro Loy· when they saw Bnrton, cried out "Look at tho· "white man; does he not look like a white ape?" On the western coast, as 1\ir. \Vinwood Heade informs me, the negroes admire a very black skin more than one of a lighter tint. But their horror of whiteness may be partly attriLutecl, according to this same traveller, to tho belief held by most negroes that demons and t!pirits :lro white. The Danyai of tho more southern part of the continent arc negroes, but "a groat many of them arc of a light '' coffee-and-milk colour, and, indeed, this colour is con" sidered handsome throughout the whole country; " so that here we have a different standard of taste. With the H '1'he Anthropological Review,' November, 1864, p. 23i. For ndditional roforonces, see 1Vaitz, 'Introduct. to Anthropology,' Eng. trunslat. 1863, vol. i. p. 105. CHAP. XIX. llEAUTY. 347 Kufirs, wl1o differ much from negroes, "the skin, except "amonO' the triLes ncar Delagoa Bay, it! not nsually " black~ tho prevniling colour being a mixtmo of blaek "and red, the most common shade being chocolate. '·Dark complexions, as being most common are natu" rally hold in the highest esteem. To be told that he ' "i · light-coloured, or like a white man, would be deemed "fl. very poor compliment by a lia:fir. I have heard of "one unfortunate man who was so very fair that no " girl would marry him." One of the titles of the Zulu king is "You who are black." GG Mr. 1alton, in spcahing to me about tho natives of S. Africa, remarked that their iclPas of beauty seem ve1·y different from ours; for in one tribe two slim, slight, and pretty girls w re not admired by the natives. Turning to other quarters of the world; in .T ava, a vollow, not a white girl, is considered, according to Madame Pfeiffer, a bu:mty. A man of Cochin-Chinn. " spoke with contempt of tho wife of the English " Ambassador, that she had white teeth like a dog, " and a ro~y colour like thu t of potato-flowers." \N e have een that the Chinese dislike our white skin, and that the N. Americans admire "a tawny bide." In S. America, the Yura-caras, who inhabit the ·wooded, clamp slopes of the eastern Cordillera, are remarkably pale·coloured, as their name in their own language expresses ; nove1·thcless they consider European women as very inferior to their own.56 66 'Mungo Park's 1'rnvols in Africa,' {to. 1816, p. 53, 131. Burton's statement is quoted by Schuufi"hauson, 'Archiv fur Anthropolog.' 1866, s. 163. On tho Banyai, Livingstone, 'Travels,' p. 61. On tho Kofira, tho Rev. J. Rhootor, 'The KnfirsofNotal anu the Zulu Country,' 1857 p. 1. 66 For the Jnvaneso and Cochin-Chineso,' see Wnitz, 'Introuuct. to Anthropology,' .Eng. translat. vol. i. p. 305. On tho Yura-oams, A. |
