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Show 34:2 SEXUAL SELEUTION : MAN. PAnT JL "'things women hnse; men have Lom·ds, women have "'none. What kind of a person would she be without "'the polele? She would not be a woman at all with n. "'mouth like a man, but no beard.' " 43 IIanUy any part of the body, which can be mmatnralJy modified, has escap d. Tho amount of suffering thus caused must have been wonclorfully great, for many of tho operations require several years for theh· completion, so that the idea of their necessity must beimperative. The motives are various; the men paint their bodies to make themselves appear terrible in battle; certain mutilations are connected with religious. rite!';; or they mark the ago of pube1·ty, or tho rank 0f the man, or they servo to distinguish the tribes. As with savages the same fashions prevail for long periods,44 mutilation~, from whatever cause first made,. soon como to be valued as distinctive marks. Bnt self-adornment, vanity, and the admiration of others, seem to be the commonest motives. In regard ·lo tattooing, I was told by the missionaries in New Zealand, that when they tried to persuade some girls to give up. the practice, they answered, "\f\T c must just have a few "lines on our lips; oh;e when we grow old we shall be" so very ugly." ·with the men of New Zealand, a most eapable judge "-5 says, "to have fine tattooed faces was "the great ambition of the young, both to render them" selves attractive to the ladies, and conspicuous in war."' A star tattooed on the forehead and a spot on the chin 43 Livingstone, 'British' Association,' 18GO; report given in the· 'Athenreum,' July 7, 18GO, p. 29. 44 SirS. Baker (ibid. vol. i. p. 210) speaking of tho natives ofOentrnl ~fl'icn. .says, "evc~·y,tribo has n. dibtinct and unchanging fashion for dross1.ng tl.lo ~1~11'. Soo Agassiz ('Journey in Brazil,' 18GB, p. iHR} 011 ~ho mvrmabllity of the tattooing of the Am:1zonin.n Indinns. •· Rev. R. Taylor, 'New Zealaud and its Inhabitants,' 1855, p. 152. CIIAP. XlX. BEAUTY. 343 are thought by the \Yomen in one part of Africa to be irresistible attractions.'u; In most, but not all parts of the world, tho men are more highly ornamented than the women, and often in a different manner; sometimes, though rarely, tho women are hardly at all ornamented. As the women are made . by savages to perform the greatest share of the work, and as they are not allowed to eat the best kinds of food, so it accords with the characteristic selfishness of man that they should not be allowed to obtain, or to use, the fino t ornaments. Lastly it is a remarkable fact, as proved by the forogoing quotations, that the same fashions in modifying the shape of the head, in ornamenting the hair, in painting, tattooing, perforating the nose, lips, or ears, in removing or filing the teeth, &c., now prevail and have long prevailed in the most distant quarters of the ·world. It is extremely improbable that these practices which are followed by so many distinct nations arc due to tradition from any common source. They rather indicate tho close similarity of the mind of man, to whatever race he may belong, in the same manner as the almost universal habits of dancing, masquerading, and maliing rude pictures. Having made these preliminary remarks on the n.dmiration felt by savages for various ornaments, and for deformities most unsightly in our eyes, let us see how far the men are attracted by the appearance of their women, and what are their ideas of beauty. As I have heard it maintained that savages are quite indifferent about the beauty of their women, valuing them solely as slaves, it may be well to obserye that this conclusion does not at all agree with the care which the women take in ornamenting themselves, or with ~~~ Mn.utcgazza, 'Viaggi o Stu<li,' p. 542. |