The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex Volume II Part 11

In regard to the general hairyness of the body, the women in all races are less hairy than the men, and in some few Quadrumana the under side of the body of the female is less hairy than that of the male.[387]

Lastly, male monkeys, like men, are bolder and fiercer than the females.

They lead the troop, and when there is danger, come to the front. We thus see how close is the parallelism between the s.e.xual differences of man and the Quadrumana. With some few species, however, as with certain baboons, the gorilla and orang, there is a considerably greater difference between the s.e.xes, in the size of the canine teeth, in the development and colour of the hair, and especially in the colour of the naked parts of the skin, than in the case of mankind.

The secondary s.e.xual characters of man are all highly variable, even within the limits of the same race or sub-species; and they differ much in the several races. These two rules generally hold good throughout the animal kingdom. In the excellent observations made on board the _Novara_,[388] the male Australians were found to exceed the females by only 65 millim. in height, whilst with the Javanese the average excess was 218 millim., so that in this latter race the difference in height between the s.e.xes is more than thrice as great as with the Australians.

The numerous measurements of various other races, with respect to stature, the circ.u.mference of the neck and chest, and the length of the back-bone and arms, which were carefully made, nearly all shewed that the males differed much more from each other than did the females. This fact indicates that, as far as these characters are concerned, it is the male which has been chiefly modified, since the races diverged from their common and primeval source.

The development of the beard and the hairiness of the body differ remarkably in the men belonging to distinct races, and even to different families in the same race. We Europeans see this amongst ourselves. In the island of St. Kilda, according to Martin,[389] the men do not acquire beards, which are very thin, until the age of thirty or upwards.

On the Europaeo-Asiatic continent, beards prevail until we pa.s.s beyond India, though with the natives of Ceylon they are frequently absent, as was noticed in ancient times by Diodorus.[390] Beyond India beards disappear, as with the Siamese, Malays, Kalmucks, Chinese, and j.a.panese; nevertheless the Ainos,[391] who inhabit the northernmost islands of the j.a.pan archipelago, are the most hairy men in the world. With negroes the beard is scanty or absent, and they have no whiskers; in both s.e.xes the body is almost dest.i.tute of fine down.[392] On the other hand, the Papuans of the Malay archipelago, who are nearly as black as negroes, possess well-developed beards.[393] In the Pacific Ocean the inhabitants of the Fiji archipelago have large bushy beards, whilst those of the not-distant archipelagoes of Tonga and Samoa are beardless; but these men belong to distinct races. In the Ellice group all the inhabitants belong to the same race; yet on one island alone, namely Nunemaya, "the men have splendid beards;" whilst on the other islands "they have, as a rule, a dozen straggling hairs for a beard."[394]

Throughout the great American continent the men may be said to be beardless; but in almost all the tribes a few short hairs are apt to appear on the face, especially during old age. With the tribes of North America, Catlin estimates that eighteen out of twenty men are completely dest.i.tute by nature of a beard; but occasionally there may be seen a man, who has neglected to pluck out the hairs at p.u.b.erty, with a soft beard an inch or two in length. The Guaranys of Paraguay differ from all the surrounding tribes in having a small beard, and even some hair on the body, but no whiskers.[395] I am informed by Mr. D. Forbes, who particularly attended to this subject, that the Aymaras and Quechuas of the Cordillera are remarkably hairless, yet in old age a few straggling hairs occasionally appear on the chin. The men of these two tribes have very little hair on the various parts of the body where hair grows abundantly in Europeans, and the women have none on the corresponding parts. The hair on the head, however, attains an extraordinary length in both s.e.xes, often reaching almost to the ground; and this is likewise the case with some of the N. American tribes. In the amount of hair, and in the general shape of the body, the s.e.xes of the American aborigines do not differ from each other so much as with most other races of mankind.[396] This fact is a.n.a.logous with what occurs with some allied monkeys; thus the s.e.xes of the chimpanzee are not as different as those of the gorilla or orang.[397]

In the previous chapters we have seen that with mammals, birds, fishes, insects, &c., many characters, which there is every reason to believe were primarily gained through s.e.xual selection by one s.e.x alone, have been transferred to both s.e.xes. As this same form of transmission has apparently prevailed to a large extent with mankind, it will save much useless repet.i.tion if we consider the characters peculiar to the male s.e.x together with certain other characters common to both s.e.xes.

_Law of Battle._-With barbarous nations, for instance with the Australians, the women are the constant cause of war both between the individuals of the same tribe and between distinct tribes. So no doubt it was in ancient times; "nam fuit ante Helenam mulier teterrima belli causa." With the North American Indians, the contest is reduced to a system. That excellent observer, Hearne,[398] says:-"It has ever been the custom among these people for the men to wrestle for any woman to whom they are attached; and, of course, the strongest party always carries off the prize. A weak man, unless he be a good hunter, and well-beloved, is seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger man thinks worth his notice. This custom prevails throughout all the tribes, and causes a great spirit of emulation among their youth, who are upon all occasions, from their childhood, trying their strength and skill in wrestling." With the Guanas of South America, Azara states that the men rarely marry till twenty or more years old, as before that age they cannot conquer their rivals.

Other similar facts could be given; but even if we had no evidence on this head, we might feel almost sure, from the a.n.a.logy of the higher Quadrumana,[399] that the law of battle had prevailed with man during the early stages of his development. The occasional appearance at the present day of canine teeth which project above the others, with traces of a diastema or open s.p.a.ce for the reception of the opposite canines, is in all probability a case of reversion to a former state, when the progenitors of man were provided with these weapons, like so many existing male Quadrumana. It was remarked in a former chapter that as man gradually became erect, and continually used his hands and arms for fighting with sticks and stones, as well as for the other purposes of life, he would have used his jaws and teeth less and less. The jaws, together with their muscles, would then have become reduced through disuse, as would the teeth through the not well understood principles of correlation and the economy of growth; for we everywhere see that parts which are no longer of service are reduced in size. By such steps the original inequality between the jaws and teeth in the two s.e.xes of mankind would ultimately have been quite obliterated. The case is almost parallel with that of many male Ruminants, in which the canine teeth have been reduced to mere rudiments, or have disappeared, apparently in consequence of the development of horns. As the prodigious difference between the skulls of the two s.e.xes in the Gorilla and Orang, stands in close relation with the development of the immense canine teeth in the males, we may infer that the reduction of the jaws and teeth in the early male progenitors of man led to a most striking and favourable change in his appearance.

There can be little doubt that the greater size and strength of man, in comparison with woman, together with his broader shoulders, more developed muscles, rugged outline of body, his greater courage and pugnacity, are all due in chief part to inheritance from some early male progenitor, who, like the existing anthropoid apes, was thus characterised. These characters will, however, have been preserved or even augmented during the long ages whilst man was still in a barbarous condition, by the strongest and boldest men having succeeded best in the general struggle for life, as well as in securing wives, and thus having left a large number of offspring. It is not probable that the greater strength of man was primarily acquired through the inherited effects of his having worked harder than woman for his own subsistence and that of his family; for the women in all barbarous nations are compelled to work at least as hard as the men. With civilised people the arbitrament of battle for the possession of the women has long ceased; on the other hand, the men, as a general rule, have to work harder than the women for their mutual subsistence; and thus their greater strength will have been kept up.

_Difference in the Mental Powers of the two s.e.xes._-With respect to differences of this nature between man and woman, it is probable that s.e.xual selection has played a very important part. I am aware that some writers doubt whether there is any inherent difference; but this is at least probable from the a.n.a.logy of the lower animals which present other secondary s.e.xual characters. No one will dispute that the bull differs in disposition from the cow, the wild-boar from the sow, the stallion from the mare, and, as is well known to the keepers of menageries, the males of the larger apes from the females. Woman seems to differ from man in mental disposition, chiefly in her greater tenderness and less selfishness; and this holds good even with savages, as shewn by a well-known pa.s.sage in Mungo Park's Travels, and by statements made by many other travellers. Woman, owing to her maternal instincts, displays these qualities towards her infants in an eminent degree; therefore it is likely that she should often extend them towards her fellow-creatures. Man is the rival of other men; he delights in compet.i.tion, and this leads to ambition which pa.s.ses too easily into selfishness. These latter qualities seem to be his natural and unfortunate birthright. It is generally admitted that with woman the powers of intuition, of rapid perception, and perhaps of imitation, are more strongly marked than in man; but some, at least, of these faculties are characteristic of the lower races, and therefore of a past and lower state of civilisation.

The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the two s.e.xes is shewn by man attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than woman can attain-whether requiring deep thought, reason, or imagination, or merely the use of the senses and hands. If two lists were made of the most eminent men and women in poetry, painting, sculpture, music,-comprising composition and performance, history, science, and philosophy, with half-a-dozen names under each subject, the two lists would not bear comparison. We may also infer, from the law of the deviation of averages, so well ill.u.s.trated by Mr. Galton, in his work on 'Hereditary Genius,' that if men are capable of decided eminence over women in many subjects, the average standard of mental power in man must be above that of woman.

The half-human male progenitors of man, and men in a savage state, have struggled together during many generations for the possession of the females. But mere bodily strength and size would do little for victory, unless a.s.sociated with courage, perseverance, and determined energy.

With social animals, the young males have to pa.s.s through many a contest before they win a female, and the older males have to retain their females by renewed battles. They have, also, in the case of man, to defend their females, as well as their young, from enemies of all kinds, and to hunt for their joint subsistence. But to avoid enemies, or to attack them with success, to capture wild animals, and to invent and fas.h.i.+on weapons, requires the aid of the higher mental faculties, namely, observation, reason, invention, or imagination. These various faculties will thus have been continually put to the test, and selected during manhood; they will, moreover, have been strengthened by use during this same period of life. Consequently, in accordance with the principle often alluded to, we might expect that they would at least tend to be transmitted chiefly to the male offspring at the corresponding period of manhood.

Now, when two men are put into compet.i.tion, or a man with a woman, who possess every mental quality in the same perfection, with the exception that the one has higher energy, perseverance, and courage, this one will generally become more eminent, whatever the object may be, and will gain the victory.[400] He may be said to possess genius-for genius has been declared by a great authority to be patience; and patience, in this sense, means unflinching, undaunted perseverance. But this view of genius is perhaps deficient; for without the higher powers of the imagination and reason, no eminent success in many subjects can be gained. But these latter as well as the former faculties will have been developed in man, partly through s.e.xual selection,-that is, through the contest of rival males, and partly through natural selection,-that is, from success in the general struggle for life; and as in both cases the struggle will have been during maturity, the characters thus gained will have been transmitted more fully to the male than to the female offspring. Thus man has ultimately become superior to woman. It is, indeed, fortunate that the law of the equal transmission of characters to both s.e.xes has commonly prevailed throughout the whole cla.s.s of mammals; otherwise it is probable that man would have become as superior in mental endowment to woman, as the peac.o.c.k is in ornamental plumage to the peahen.

It must be borne in mind that the tendency in characters acquired at a late period of life by either s.e.x, to be transmitted to the same s.e.x at the same age, and of characters acquired at an early age to be transmitted to both s.e.xes, are rules which, though general, do not always hold good. If they always held good, we might conclude (but I am here wandering beyond my proper bounds) that the inherited effects of the early education of boys and girls would be transmitted equally to both s.e.xes; so that the present inequality between the s.e.xes in mental power could not be effaced by a similar course of early training; nor can it have been caused by their dissimilar early training. In order that woman should reach the same standard as man, she ought, when nearly adult, to be trained to energy and perseverance, and to have her reason and imagination exercised to the highest point; and then she would probably transmit these qualities chiefly to her adult daughters. The whole body of women, however, could not be thus raised, unless during many generations the women who excelled in the above robust virtues were married, and produced offspring in larger numbers than other women. As before remarked with respect to bodily strength, although men do not now fight for the sake of obtaining wives, and this form of selection has pa.s.sed away, yet they generally have to undergo, during manhood, a severe struggle in order to maintain themselves and their families; and this will tend to keep up or even increase their mental powers, and, as a consequence, the present inequality between the s.e.xes.[401]

_Voice and Musical Powers._-In some species of Quadrumana there is a great difference between the adult s.e.xes, in the power of the voice and in the development of the vocal organs; and man appears to have inherited this difference from his early progenitors. His vocal cords are about one-third longer than in woman, or than in boys; and emasculation produces the same effect on him as on the lower animals, for it "arrests that prominent growth of the thyroid, &c., which accompanies the elongation of the cords."[402] With respect to the cause of this difference between the s.e.xes, I have nothing to add to the remarks made in the last chapter on the probable effects of the long-continued use of the vocal organs by the male under the excitement of love, rage, and jealousy. According to Sir Duncan Gibb,[403] the voice differs in the different races of mankind; and with the natives of Tartary, China, &c., the voice of the male is said not to differ so much from that of the female, as in most other races.

The capacity and love for singing or music, though not a s.e.xual character in man, must not here be pa.s.sed over. Although the sounds emitted by animals of all kinds serve many purposes, a strong case can be made out, that the vocal organs were primarily used and perfected in relation to the propagation of the species. Insects and some few spiders are the lowest animals which voluntarily produce any sound; and this is generally effected by the aid of beautifully constructed stridulating organs, which are often confined to the males alone. The sounds thus produced consist, I believe in all cases, of the same note, repeated rhythmically;[404] and this is sometimes pleasing even to the ears of man. Their chief, and in some cases exclusive use appears to be either to call or to charm the opposite s.e.x.

The sounds produced by fishes are said in some cases to be made only by the males during the breeding season. All the air-breathing Vertebrata necessarily possess an apparatus for inhaling and expelling air, with a pipe capable of being closed at one end. Hence when the primeval members of this cla.s.s were strongly excited and their muscles violently contracted, purposeless sounds would almost certainly have been produced; and these, if they proved in any way serviceable, might readily have been modified or intensified by the preservation of properly adapted variations. The Amphibians are the lowest Vertebrates which breathe air; and many of these animals, namely, frogs and toads, possess vocal organs, which are incessantly used during the breeding-season, and which are often more highly developed in the male than in the female. The male alone of the tortoise utters a noise, and this only during the season of love. Male alligators roar or bellow during the same season. Every one knows how largely birds use their vocal organs as a means of courts.h.i.+p; and some species likewise perform what may be called instrumental music.

In the cla.s.s of Mammals, with which we are here more particularly concerned, the males of almost all the species use their voices during the breeding-season much more than at any other time; and some are absolutely mute excepting at this season. Both s.e.xes of other species, or the females alone, use their voices as a love-call. Considering these facts, and that the vocal organs of some quadrupeds are much more largely developed in the male than in the female, either permanently or temporarily during the breeding season; and considering that in most of the lower cla.s.ses the sounds produced by the males, serve not only to call but to excite or allure the female, it is a surprising fact that we have not as yet any good evidence that these organs are used by male mammals to charm the females. The American _Mycetes caraya_ perhaps forms an exception, as does more probably one of those apes which come nearer to man, namely, the _Hylobates agilis_. This gibbon has an extremely loud but musical voice. Mr. Waterhouse states,[405] "It appeared to me that in ascending and descending the scale, the intervals were always exactly half-tones; and I am sure that the highest note was the exact octave to the lowest. The quality of the notes is very musical; and I do not doubt that a good violinist would be able to give a correct idea of the gibbon's composition, excepting as regards its loudness." Mr. Waterhouse then gives the notes. Professor Owen, who is likewise a musician, confirms the foregoing statement, and remarks that this gibbon "alone of brute mammals may be said to sing." It appears to be much excited after its performance. Unfortunately its habits have never been closely observed in a state of nature; but from the a.n.a.logy of almost all other animals, it is highly probable that it utters its musical notes especially during the season of courts.h.i.+p.

The perception, if not the enjoyment, of musical cadences and of rhythm is probably common to all animals, and no doubt depends on the common physiological nature of their nervous systems. Even Crustaceans, which are not capable of producing any voluntary sound, possess certain auditory hairs, which have been seen to vibrate when the proper musical notes are struck.[406] It is well known that some dogs howl when hearing particular tones. Seals apparently appreciate music, and their fondness for it "was well known to the ancients, and is often taken advantage of by the hunters at the present day."[407] With all those animals, namely insects, amphibians, and birds, the males of which during the season of courts.h.i.+p incessantly produce musical notes or mere rhythmical sounds, we must believe that the females are able to appreciate them, and are thus excited or charmed; otherwise the incessant efforts of the males and the complex structures often possessed exclusively by them would be useless.

With man song is generally admitted to be the basis or origin of instrumental music. As neither the enjoyment nor the capacity of producing musical notes are faculties of the least direct use to man in reference to his ordinary habits of life, they must be ranked amongst the most mysterious with which he is endowed. They are present, though in a very rude and as it appears almost latent condition, in men of all races, even the most savage; but so different is the taste of the different races, that our music gives not the least pleasure to savages, and their music is to us hideous and unmeaning. Dr. Seemann, in some interesting remarks on this subject,[408] "doubts whether even amongst the nations of Western Europe, intimately connected as they are by close and frequent intercourse, the music of the one is interpreted in the same sense by the others. By travelling eastwards we find that there is certainly a different language of music. Songs of joy and dance-accompaniments are no longer, as with us, in the major keys, but always in the minor." Whether or not the half-human progenitors of man possessed, like the before-mentioned gibbon, the capacity of producing, and no doubt of appreciating, musical notes, we have every reason to believe that man possessed these faculties at a very remote period, for singing and music are extremely ancient arts. Poetry, which may be considered as the offspring of song, is likewise so ancient that many persons have felt astonishment that it should have arisen during the earliest ages of which we have any record.

The musical faculties, which are not wholly deficient in any race, are capable of prompt and high development, as we see with Hottentots and Negroes, who have readily become excellent musicians, although they do not practise in their native countries anything that we should esteem as music. But there is nothing anomalous in this circ.u.mstance: some species of birds which never naturally sing, can without much difficulty be taught to perform; thus the house-sparrow has learnt the song of a linnet. As these two species are closely allied, and belong to the order of Insessores, which includes nearly all the singing-birds in the world, it is quite possible or probable that a progenitor of the sparrow may have been a songster. It is a much more remarkable fact that parrots, which belong to a group distinct from the Insessores, and have differently-constructed vocal organs, can be taught not only to speak, but to pipe or whistle tunes invented by man, so that they must have some musical capacity. Nevertheless it would be extremely rash to a.s.sume that parrots are descended from some ancient progenitor which was a songster. Many a.n.a.logous cases could be advanced of organs and instincts originally adapted for one purpose, having been utilised for some quite distinct purpose.[409] Hence the capacity for high musical development, which the savage races of man possess, may be due either to our semi-human progenitors having practised some rude form of music, or simply to their having acquired for some distinct purposes the proper vocal organs. But in this latter case we must a.s.sume that they already possessed, as in the above instance of the parrots, and as seems to occur with many animals, some sense of melody.

Music affects every emotion, but does not by itself excite in us the more terrible emotions of horror, rage, &c. It awakens the gentler feelings of tenderness and love, which readily pa.s.s into devotion. It likewise stirs up in us the sensation of triumph and the glorious ardour for war. These powerful and mingled feelings may well give rise to the sense of sublimity. We can concentrate, as Dr. Seemann observes, greater intensity of feeling in a single musical note than in pages of writing.

Nearly the same emotions, but much weaker and less complex, are probably felt by birds when the male pours forth his full volume of song, in rivalry with other males, for the sake of captivating the female. Love is still the commonest theme of our own songs. As Herbert Spencer remarks, music "arouses dormant sentiments of which we had not conceived the possibility, and do not know the meaning; or, as Richter says, tells us of things we have not seen and shall not see."[410] Conversely, when vivid emotions are felt and expressed by the orator or even in common speech, musical cadences and rhythm are instinctively used. Monkeys also express strong feelings in different tones-anger and impatience by low,-fear and pain by high notes.[411] The sensations and ideas excited in us by music, or by the cadences of impa.s.sioned oratory, appear from their vagueness, yet depth, like mental reversions to the emotions and thoughts of a long-past age.

All these facts with respect to music become to a certain extent intelligible if we may a.s.sume that musical tones and rhythm were used by the half-human progenitors of man, during the season of courts.h.i.+p, when animals of all kinds are excited by the strongest pa.s.sions. In this case, from the deeply-laid principle of inherited a.s.sociations, musical tones would be likely to excite in us, in a vague and indefinite manner, the strong emotions of a long-past age. Bearing in mind that the males of some quadrumanous animals have their vocal organs much more developed than in the females, and that one anthropomorphous species pours forth a whole octave of musical notes and may be said to sing, the suspicion does not appear improbable that the progenitors of man, either the males or females, or both s.e.xes, before they had acquired the power of expressing their mutual love in articulate language, endeavoured to charm each other with musical notes and rhythm. So little is known about the use of the voice by the Quadrumana during the season of love, that we have hardly any means of judging whether the habit of singing was first acquired by the male or female progenitors of mankind. Women are generally thought to possess sweeter voices than men, and as far as this serves as any guide we may infer that they first acquired musical powers in order to attract the other s.e.x.[412] But if so, this must have occurred long ago, before the progenitors of man had become sufficiently human to treat and value their women merely as useful slaves. The impa.s.sioned orator, bard, or musician, when with his varied tones and cadences he excites the strongest emotions in his hearers, little suspects that he uses the same means by which, at an extremely remote period, his half-human ancestors aroused each other's ardent pa.s.sions, during their mutual courts.h.i.+p and rivalry.

_On the influence of beauty in determining the marriages of mankind._-In civilised life man is largely, but by no means exclusively, influenced in the choice of his wife by external appearance; but we are chiefly concerned with primeval times, and our only means of forming a judgment on this subject is to study the habits of existing semi-civilised and savage nations. If it can be shewn that the men of different races prefer women having certain characteristics, or conversely that the women prefer certain men, we have then to enquire whether such choice, continued during many generations, would produce any sensible effect on the race, either on one s.e.x or both s.e.xes; this latter circ.u.mstance depending on the form of inheritance which prevails.

It will be well first to shew in some detail that savages pay the greatest attention to their personal appearance.[413] That they have a pa.s.sion for ornament is notorious; and an English philosopher goes so far as to maintain that clothes were first made for ornament and not for warmth. As Professor Waitz remarks, "however poor and miserable man is, he finds a pleasure in adorning himself." The extravagance of the naked Indians of South America in decorating themselves is shewn "by a man of large stature gaining with difficulty enough by the labour of a fortnight to procure in exchange the _chica_ necessary to paint himself red."[414] The ancient barbarians of Europe during the Reindeer period brought to their caves any brilliant or singular objects which they happened to find. Savages at the present day everywhere deck themselves with plumes, necklaces, armlets, earrings, &c. They paint themselves in the most diversified manner. "If painted nations," as Humboldt observes, "had been examined with the same attention as clothed nations, it would have been perceived that the most fertile imagination and the most mutable caprice have created the fas.h.i.+ons of painting, as well as those of garments."

In one part of Africa the eyelids are coloured black; in another the nails are coloured yellow or purple. In many places the hair is dyed of various tints. In different countries the teeth are stained black, red, blue, &c., and in the Malay Archipelago it is thought shameful to have white teeth like those of a dog. Not one great country can be named, from the Polar regions in the north to New Zealand in the south, in which the aborigines do not tattoo themselves. This practice was followed by the Jews of old and by the ancient Britons. In Africa some of the natives tattoo themselves, but it is much more common to raise protuberances by rubbing salt into incisions made in various parts of the body; and these are considered by the inhabitants of Kordofan and Darfur "to be great personal attractions." In the Arab countries no beauty can be perfect until the cheeks "or temples have been gashed."[415] In South America, as Humboldt remarks, "a mother would be accused of culpable indifference towards her children, if she did not employ artificial means to shape the calf of the leg after the fas.h.i.+on of the country." In the Old and New World the shape of the skull was formerly modified during infancy in the most extraordinary manner, as is still the case in many places, and such deformities are considered ornamental. For instance, the savages of Colombia[416] deem a much flattened head "an essential point of beauty."

The hair is treated with especial care in various countries; it is allowed to grow to full length, so as to reach to the ground, or is combed into "a compact frizzled mop, which is the Papuan's pride and glory."[417] In Northern Africa "a man requires a period of from eight to ten years to perfect his coiffure." With other nations the head is shaved, and in parts of South America and Africa even the eyebrows are eradicated. The natives of the Upper Nile knock out the four front teeth, saying that they do not wish to resemble brutes. Further south, the Batokas knock out the two upper incisors, which, as Livingstone[418]

remarks, gives the face a hideous appearance, owing to the growth of the lower jaw; but these people think the presence of the incisors most unsightly, and on beholding some Europeans, cried out, "Look at the great teeth!" The great chief Sebituani tried in vain to alter this fas.h.i.+on. In various parts of Africa and in the Malay Archipelago the natives file the incisor teeth into points like those of a saw, or pierce them with holes, into which they insert studs.

As the face with us is chiefly admired for its beauty, so with savages it is the chief seat of mutilation. In all quarters of the world the septum, and more rarely the wings of the nose are pierced, with rings, sticks, feathers, and other ornaments inserted into the holes. The ears are everywhere pierced and similarly ornamented, and with the Botocudos and Lenguas of South America the hole is gradually so much enlarged that the lower edge touches the shoulder. In North and South America and in Africa either the upper or lower lip is pierced; and with the Botocudos the hole in the lower lip is so large that a disc of wood four inches in diameter is placed in it. Mantegazza gives a curious account of the shame felt by a South American native, and of the ridicule which he excited, when he sold his _tembeta_,-the large coloured piece of wood which is pa.s.sed through the hole. In central Africa the women perforate the lower lip and wear a crystal, which, from the movement of the tongue, has "a wriggling motion indescribably ludicrous during conversation." The wife of the chief of Latooka told Sir S. Baker[419]

that his "wife would be much improved if she would extract her four front teeth from the lower jaw, and wear the long pointed polished crystal in her under lip." Further south with the Makalolo, the upper lip is perforated, and a large metal and bamboo ring, called a _pelele_, is worn in the hole. "This caused the lip in one case to project two inches beyond the tip of the nose; and when the lady smiled the contraction of the muscles elevated it over the eyes. 'Why do the women wear these things?' the venerable chief, Chinsurdi, was asked. Evidently surprised at such a stupid question, he replied, 'For beauty! They are the only beautiful things women have; men have beards, women have none.

What kind of a person would she be without the pelele? She would not be a woman at all with a mouth like a man, but no beard.'" [420]

Hardly any part of the body, which can be unnaturally modified, has escaped. The amount of suffering thus caused must have been wonderfully great, for many of the operations require several years for their completion, so that the idea of their necessity must be imperative. The motives are various; the men paint their bodies to make themselves appear terrible in battle; certain mutilations are connected with religious rites; or they mark the age of p.u.b.erty, or the rank of the man, or they serve to distinguish the tribes. As with savages the same fas.h.i.+ons prevail for long periods,[421] mutilations, from whatever cause first made, soon come to be valued as distinctive marks. But self-adornment, vanity, and the admiration of others, seem to be the commonest motives. In regard to 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, "We must just have a few lines on our lips; else when we grow old we shall be so very ugly." With the men of New Zealand, a most capable judge[422] says, "to have fine tattooed faces was the great ambition of the young, both to render themselves attractive to the ladies, and conspicuous in war." A star tattooed on the forehead and a spot on the chin are thought by the women in one part of Africa to be irresistible attractions.[423] In most, but not all parts of the world, the men are more highly ornamented than the women, and often in a different manner; sometimes, though rarely, the 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 finest ornaments. Lastly it is a remarkable fact, as proved by the foregoing quotations, that the same fas.h.i.+ons 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 are due to tradition from any common source. They rather indicate the 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 making rude pictures.

Having made these preliminary remarks on the admiration 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 observe that this conclusion does not at all agree with the care which the women take in ornamenting themselves, or with their vanity. Burch.e.l.l[424] gives an amusing account of a Bushwoman, who used so much grease, red ochre, and s.h.i.+ning powder, "as would have ruined any but a very rich husband." She displayed also "much vanity and too evident a consciousness of her superiority." Mr. Winwood Reade informs me that the negroes of the West Coast often discuss the beauty of their women. Some competent observers have attributed the fearfully common practice of infanticide partly to the desire felt by the women to retain their good looks.[425] In several regions the women wear charms and love-philters to gain the affections of the men; and Mr. Brown enumerates four plants used for this purpose by the women of North-Western America.[426]

Hearne,[427] who lived many years with the American Indians, and who was an excellent observer, says, in speaking of the women, "Ask a Northern Indian what is beauty, and he will answer, a broad flat face, small eyes, high cheek-bones, three or four broad black lines across each cheek, a low forehead, a large broad chin, a clumsy hook nose, a tawny hide, and b.r.e.a.s.t.s hanging down to the belt." Pallas, who visited the northern parts of the Chinese empire, says "those women are preferred who have the Mandschu form; that is to say, a broad face, high cheek-bones, very broad noses, and enormous ears;"[428] and Vogt remarks that the obliquity of the eye, which is proper to the Chinese and j.a.panese, is exaggerated in their pictures for the purpose, as "it seems, of exhibiting its beauty, as contrasted with the eye of the red-haired barbarians." It is well known, as Huc repeatedly remarks, that the Chinese of the interior think Europeans hideous with their white skins and prominent noses. The nose is far from being too prominent, according to our ideas, in the natives of Ceylon; yet "the Chinese in the seventh century, accustomed to the flat features of the Mogul races, were surprised at the prominent noses of the Cingalese; and Thsang described them as having 'the beak of a bird, with the body of a man.'"

Finlayson, after minutely describing the people of Cochin China, says that their rounded heads and faces are their chief characteristics; and, he adds, "the roundness of the whole countenance is more striking in the women, who are reckoned beautiful in proportion as they display this form of face." The Siamese have small noses with divergent nostrils, a wide mouth, rather thick lips, a remarkably large face, with very high and broad cheek-bones. It is, therefore, not wonderful that "beauty, according to our notion is a stranger to them. Yet they consider their own females to be much more beautiful than those of Europe."[429]

It is well known that with many Hottentot women the posterior part of the body projects in a wonderful manner; they are steatopygous; and Sir Andrew Smith is certain that this peculiarity is greatly admired by the men.[430] He once saw a woman who was considered a beauty, and she was so immensely developed behind, that when seated on level ground she could not rise, and had to push herself along until she came to a slope.

Some of the women in various negro tribes are similarly characterised; and, according to Burton, the Somal men "are said to choose their wives by ranging them in a line, and by picking her out who projects farthest _a tergo_. Nothing can be more hateful to a negro than the opposite form."[431]

With respect to colour, the negroes rallied Mungo Park on the whiteness of his skin and the prominence of his nose, both of which they considered as "unsightly and unnatural conformations." He in return praised the glossy jet of their skins and the lovely depression of their noses; this they said was "honey-mouth," nevertheless they gave him food. The African Moors, also, "knitted their brows and seemed to shudder" at the whiteness of his skin. On the eastern coast, the negro boys when they saw Burton, cried out "Look at the white man; does he not look like a white ape?" On the western coast, as Mr. Winwood Reade informs me, the negroes admire a very black skin more than one of a lighter tint. But their horror of whiteness may be partly attributed, according to this same traveller, to the belief held by most negroes that demons and spirits are white.

The Banyai of the more southern part of the continent are negroes, but "a great many of them are of a light coffee-and-milk colour, and, indeed, this colour is considered handsome throughout the whole country;" so that here we have a different standard of taste. With the Kafirs, who differ much from negroes, "the skin, except among the tribes near Delagoa Bay, is not usually black, the prevailing colour being a mixture of black and red, the most common shade being chocolate.

Dark complexions, as being most common are naturally held in the highest esteem. To be told that he is light-coloured, or like a white man, would be deemed a very poor compliment by a Kafir. I have heard of one unfortunate man who was so very fair that no girl would marry him." One of the t.i.tles of the Zulu king is "You who are black."[432] Mr. Galton, in speaking to me about the natives of S. Africa, remarked that their ideas of beauty seem very different from ours; for in one tribe two slim, slight, and pretty girls were not admired by the natives.

Turning to other quarters of the world; in Java, a yellow, not a white girl, is considered, according to Madame Pfeiffer, a beauty. A man of Cochin-China "spoke with contempt of the wife of the English Amba.s.sador, that she had white teeth like a dog, and a rosy colour like that of potato-flowers." We have seen that the Chinese dislike our white skin, and that the N. Americans admire "a tawny hide." In S. America, the Yura-caras, who inhabit the wooded, damp slopes of the eastern Cordillera, are remarkably pale-coloured, as their name in their own language expresses; nevertheless they consider European women as very inferior to their own.[433]

In several of the tribes of North America the hair on the head grows to a wonderful length; and Catlin gives a curious proof how much this is esteemed, for the chief of the Crows was elected to this office from having the longest hair of any man in the tribe, namely ten feet and seven inches. The Aymaras and Quechuas of S. America, likewise have very long hair; and this, as Mr. D. Forbes informs me, is so much valued for the sake of beauty, that cutting it off was the severest punishment which he could inflict on them. In both halves of the continent the natives sometimes increase the apparent length of their hair by weaving into it fibrous substances. Although the hair on the head is thus cherished, that on the face is considered by the North American Indians "as very vulgar," and every hair is carefully eradicated. This practice prevails throughout the American continent from Vancouver's Island in the north to Tierra del Fuego in the south. When York Minster, a Fuegian on board the "Beagle" was taken back to his country, the natives told him he ought to pull out the few short hairs on his face. They also threatened a young missionary, who was left for a time with them, to strip him naked, and pluck the hairs from his face and body, yet he was far from a hairy man. This fas.h.i.+on is carried to such an extreme that the Indians of Paraguay eradicate their eyebrows and eyelashes, saying that they do not wish to be like horses.[434]

It is remarkable that throughout the world the races which are almost completely dest.i.tute of a beard dislike hairs on the face and body, and take pains to eradicate them. The Kalmucks are beardless, and they are well known, like the Americans, to pluck out all straggling hairs; and so it is with the Polynesians, some of the Malays, and the Siamese. Mr.

Veitch states that the j.a.panese ladies "all objected to our whiskers, considering them very ugly, and told us to cut them off, and be like j.a.panese men." The New Zealanders are beardless; they carefully pluck out the hairs on the face, and have a saying that "There is no woman for a hairy man."[435]

On the other hand, bearded races admire and greatly value their beards; among the Anglo-Saxons every part of the body, according to their laws, had a recognised value; "the loss of the beard being estimated at twenty s.h.i.+llings, while the breaking of a thigh was fixed at only twelve."[436]

In the East men swear solemnly by their beards. We have seen that Chinsurdi, the chief of the Makalolo in Africa, evidently thought that beards were a great ornament. With the Fijians in the Pacific the beard is "profuse and bushy, and is his greatest pride;" whilst the inhabitants of the adjacent archipelagoes of Tonga and Samoa are "beardless, and abhor a rough chin." In one island alone of the Ellice group "the men are heavily bearded, and not a little proud thereof."[437]

We thus see how widely the different races of man differ in their taste for the beautiful. In every nation sufficiently advanced to have made effigies of their G.o.ds or of their deified rulers, the sculptors no doubt have endeavoured to express their highest ideal of beauty and grandeur.[438] Under this point of view it is well to compare in our mind the Jupiter or Apollo of the Greeks with the Egyptian or a.s.syrian statues; and these with the hideous bas-reliefs on the ruined buildings of Central America.

I have met with very few statements opposed to the above conclusion. Mr.

Winwood Reade, however, who has had ample opportunities for observation, not only with the negroes of the West Coast of Africa, but with those of the interior who have never a.s.sociated with Europeans, is convinced that their ideas of beauty are _on the whole_ the same as ours. He has repeatedly found that he agreed with negroes in their estimation of the beauty of the native girls; and that their appreciation of the beauty of European women corresponded with ours. They admire long hair, and use artificial means to make it appear abundant; they admire also a beard, though themselves very scantily provided. Mr. Reade feels doubtful what kind of nose is most appreciated: a girl has been heard to say, "I do not want to marry him, he has got no nose;" and this shews that a very flat nose is not an object of admiration. We should, however, bear in mind that the depressed and very broad noses and projecting jaws of the negroes of the West Coast are exceptional types with the inhabitants of Africa. Notwithstanding the foregoing statements, Mr. Reade does not think it probable that negroes would ever prefer the "most beautiful European woman, on the mere grounds of physical admiration, to a good-looking negress."[439]