648 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



" The slaves had their hair cut short as a mark of servitude." We find 

 it thus throughout America. " Socially the slave is despised, his hair 

 is cut short," says Bancroft of the Nootkas. " The privilege of wear- 

 ing long hair was rigorously denied " to Carib slaves and captives, 

 says Edwards. The slavery that punished criminality was similarly 

 marked. In Nicaragua " a thief had his hair cut off, and became a 

 slave to the person that had been robbed till he was satisfied." And 

 this badge of slavery was otherwise inflicted as a punishment. By 

 the Central Americans a suspected adulterer " was stripped and his hair 

 was cut (a great disgrace)." One ancient Mexican penalty " was to have 

 the hair cut at some public place." And during mediseval times in 

 Europe cutting of hair was enacted as a punishment. Of course there 

 follows a correlative distinction : long hair becomes honorable. If 

 among the Chibchas " the greatest affront that could be put on a man 

 or a woman was to have their hair cropped ; " the assimilation to slaves 

 in appearance was the obvious reason, the honorableness of long hair 

 being an implication. " The Itzaex Indians," says Fancourt, " wore 

 their hair as long as it would grow ; indeed, it is a most difficult thing 

 to bring the Indians to cut their hair." Long hair is a mark of dis- 

 tinction among the Tongans, and none are permitted to wear it but the 

 principal people. Similarly with the New Caledonians and various 

 others of the uncivilized, and similarly with semi-civilized Orientals, 

 "the Ottoman princes have their beard shaved off, to show that they 

 are dependent on the favor of the reigning emperor." By the Greeks, 

 "in manhood, . . . the hair was worn longer," and "a certain politi- 

 cal significancy was attached to the hair." In Northern Europe, too, 

 " among the Franks .... the serfs wore the hair less long and less 

 carefully dressed than freemen," and the freemen less long than the 

 nobles : " The long hair of the Frank kings is sacred. ... It is for 

 them a mark and honorable prerogative of the royal race." Clothair 

 and Childebert, wishing to divide their brother's kingdom, consulted 

 respecting their nephews, " whether to cut off their hair so as to re- 

 duce them to the rank of subjects, or to kill them." I may add the 

 extreme case of the Japanese mikado : " Neither his hair, beard, nor 

 nails are ever [avowedly] cut, that his sacred person may not be mu- 

 tilated," such cutting as occurs being done while he is supposed to 

 sleep. 



A parallel marking of divine rank may be noted in passing. 

 Length of hair being significant of terrestrial dignity, becomes signifi- 

 cant, too, of celestial dignity. The gods of various peoples, and es- 

 pecially the great gods, are distinguished by their flowing beards and 

 long locks. 



Domestic subordination, too, in many cases goes along with 

 short hair ; in low social states women commonly bear this badge of 

 slavery. Turner tells us that in Samoa the women wore the hair 

 short ; the men wore it long. Among other Malayo-Polynesians, as 



