596 SELF-INFLICTED SUFFERINGS. 



with a sharp bamboo reed, and then applying a certain plant 

 to the wound, which raises the scar above the rest of the skin. 

 The inhabitants of Tazavan, or Formosa, by a very painful 

 operation, impress on their naked skins various figures of trees, 

 flowers, and animals. The great men in Guinea have their 

 skin flowered like damask ; and in the Deccan the women 

 likewise have flowers cut into their flesh on the forehead, the 

 arms, and the breast, and the elevated scars are painted in 

 colours, and exhibit the appearance of flowered damask."* 

 The native women in New South Wales used to tie a string 

 tightly round the little finger, and wear it until the finger 

 rotted off. Few of them escaped the painful experience.-)- 

 The American Indians also inflicted the most horrible tortures 

 upon themselves, i These and many other curious practices 

 are none the less painful because they are voluntary. 



If we turn to the bright side of the question, the whole 

 analogy of nature justifies us in concluding that the pleasures 

 of civilized man are greater than those of the savage. As 

 we descend in the scale of organization, we find that animals 

 become more and more vegetative in their characteristics ; 

 with less susceptibility to pain, and consequently less capa- 

 city for happiness. It may, indeed, be doubted whether some 

 of those beings, which from their anatomy we are compelled 

 to class as animals, have much more consciousness of enjoy- 

 ment, or even of existence, than a tree or a sea-weed. But 

 even to animals which possess a clearly defined nervous 

 system, we must ascribe very different degrees of sensibility. 

 The study of the sensory organs in the lower animals offers 

 great difficulties ; but at least we know that they are, in 

 many cases, few in number, and capable of conveying only 

 general impressions. Every one will admit that the posses- 



* Forster, 1. c. p. 588. J See, for instance, Catlin's North 



t D'Urville, vol. i. p. 406. American Indians, vol. i. p. 170 ; 



Azara, vol. ii. p. 136. 



