AS APPLIED TO MAN. 347 



back, laced on. and shifted from side to side as the 

 wind blows. The Hottentots also wore a somewhat 

 similar skin over the back, which they never removed, 

 and in which they were buried. Even in the tropics 

 most savages take precautions to keep their backs dry. 

 The natives of Timor use the leaf of a fan palm, care- 

 fully stitched up and folded, which they always carry 

 with them, and which, held over the back, forms an 

 admirable protection from the rain. Almost all the 

 Malay races, as well as the Indians of South America, 

 make great palm-leaf hats, four feet or more across, 

 which they use during their canoe voyages to protect 

 their bodies from heavy showers of rain; and they 

 use smaller hats of the same kind when travelling 

 by land. 



"We find, then, that so far from there being any 

 reason to believe that a hairy covering to the back 

 could have been hurtful or even useless to pre-historic 

 man, the habits of modern savages indicate exactly the 

 opposite view, as they evidently feel the want of it, and 

 are obliged to provide substitutes of various kinds. 

 The perfectly erect posture of man, may be supposed to 

 have something to do with the disappearance of the 

 hair from his body, while it remains on his head ; but 

 when walking, exposed to rain and wind, a man natur- 

 ally stoops forwards, and thus exposes his back ; and the 

 undoubted fact, that most savages'feel the effects of cold 

 and wet most severely in that part of the body, suffi- 

 ciently demonstrates that the hair could not have ceased 

 to grow there merely because it was useless, even if it 



