DRESS AND ADORNMENT. 



493 



The second group of bodily deformations is that of bandagings 

 various and widely spread. With these we may consider some 

 freaks of unrestrained growth. In China and Siam the finger- 

 nails are allowed to go uncut and attain great length. In China 

 they are carefully oiled and kept in tubes ; in Siam they are in- 

 cased in silver tips. In China they also occur among religious 

 ascetics. In all these the meaning is clear. The person with such 

 nails does not and can not do ordinary manual labor. Hence 

 they are a sign of nobility or of sanctity. The Marquesas Isl- 

 ander also wears his finger-nails long and pointed as a sign of 

 rank. Of true band- 

 aging everv one 4 



every one 

 knows of the dwarf- 

 ing of the Chinese 

 woman's foot the 

 practice is confined 

 to women, though 

 not to women of 

 the highest rank. 

 Flower describes 

 the physiological 

 action and result of 

 this : (a) Operation : 

 " The four outer toes 

 are bound under the 

 sole in such a way 



as to leave the great toe only in a normal position and to bring the 

 whole foot to a narrow point in front, (b) Results : The roots of 

 the heel and toes are compressed downward and toward each other, 

 shortening the foot and making a deep transverse fold in the mid- 

 dle of the sole." The subject of the operation, which is begun in 

 childhood, is, of course, crippled for life. The bandaged foot be- 

 comes also an object that must not be seen, a disgrace ; and yet 

 the Chinaman calls it a " golden lily." In the Philippine Islands 

 women bind their arms in order to gain the ideal of womanly 

 beauty, a large fist. The results would even suit the present taste 

 of Boston. The Wahamba, in East Africa, bind the legs of chil- 

 dren, up to the knee, to make them calfless, " that they may run 

 better " ; while the Puris women, in South America, develop the 

 calf excessively by bandages above and below, " for beauty." 



The most remarkable bandaging, however, is that of the head. 

 Deformation of this kind has a wide range in time and space. 

 Hippocrates speaks of it 400 B. c, and it still exists. And where 

 has it not prevailed ? It is known to have existed in the Caucasus, 

 the Crimea, Hungary, Silesia, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzer- 

 land, Polynesia, China, and other parts of Asia. Nowhere, how- 



Fig. 4. Tuoth-filino Malaysian Examples. 



