334 SEXUAL SELECTION: MAN. [Part II. 



those of the interior who have never associated 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 shows that a very flat nose is 

 not an obiect of admiration. We should, however, bear 

 in mind that the depressed and very broad noses and pro- 

 jecting jaws of the negroes of the West Coast are excep- 

 tional types with the inhabitants of Africa. Notwith- 

 standing 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." 6a 



The truth of the principle, long ago insisted on by 

 Humboldt, 63 that man admires and often tries to exagger- 

 ate whatever characters Nature may have given him, is 

 shown in many ways. The practice of beardless races 



62 The Fuegians, as I have been informed by a missionary who long 

 resided with them, consider European women as extremely beautiful ; 

 but from what we have seen of the judgment of the other aborigines of 

 America, I cannot but think that this must be a mistake, unless indeed 

 the statement refers to the few Fuegians who have lived ft>r some time 

 with Europeans, and who must consider us as superior beings. I should 

 add that a most experienced observer, Captain Burton, believes that a 

 woman whom we consider beautiful is admired throughout the world, 

 ' Anthropological Review,' March, 1864, p. 245. 



63 ' Personal Narrative,' Eng. translat. vol. iv. p. 518, and elsewhere. 

 Mantegazza, in his ' Viaggi e Studi,' 1867, strongly insists on this same 

 principle. 



