Chap. X i X. Man — Beauty. 583 



peculiarity. Many American Indians are known to admire a head 

 so extremely flattened as to appear to us idiotic. The natives on 

 the north-western coast compress the head into a pointed cone ; 

 and it is their constant practice to gather the hair into a knot on 

 the top of the head, for the sake, as Dr. Wilson remarks, " of 

 " increasing the apparent elevation of the favourite conoid form." 

 The inhabitants of Arakhan " admire a broad, smooth forehead, 

 *' and in order to produce it, they fasten a plate of lead on the 

 " heads of the ne^ -born children." On the other hand, " a broad, 

 " well-rounded occiput is considered a great beauty " by the 

 natives of the Fiji islands. 70 



As with the skull, so with the nose ; the ancient Huns during 

 the age of Attila were accustomed to flatten the noses of their 

 infants with bandages, " for the sake of exaggerating a natural 

 " conformation." With the Taliitians, to be called long-nose is 

 considered as an insult, and they compress the noses and fore- 

 heads of their children for the sake of beauty. The same holds 

 with the Malays of Sumatra, the Hottentots, certain Negroes, 

 and the natives of Brazil. 71 The Chinese have by nature un- 

 usually small feet ; 72 and it is well known that the women of 

 the upper classes distort their feet to make them still smaller. 

 Lastly, Humboldt thinks that the American Indians prefer 

 colouring their bodies with red paint in order to exaggerate 

 their natural tint ; and until recently European women added 

 to their naturally bright colours by rouge and white cosmetics ; 

 but it may be doubted whether barbarous nations have generally 

 had any such intention in painting themselves. 



In the fashions of our own dress we see exactly the same 

 principle and the same desire to carry every point to an extreme ; 

 we exhibit, also, the same spirit of emulation. But the fashions 

 of savages are far more permanent than ours ; and whenever 

 their bodies are artificially modified, this is necessarily the case. 

 The Arab women of the Upper Nile occupy about three days in 

 dressing their hair ; they never imitate other tribes, " but simply 



70 On the skulls of the American n On the Huns, Godron, * De 



tribes, see Nott and Gliddon, < Types l'Espece,' torn, ii. 1859, p. 300 



of Mankind,' 1854, p. 440 ; Prichard, On the Tahitians, Waitz, 'Anthro 



'Phys. Hist, of Mankind,' vol. i. polog.' Eng.translat. vol. i. p. 305. 



3rd edit. p. 321 ; on the natives of Marsden, quoted by Prichard, ' Phys. 



Arakhan, ibid. vol. iv. p. 537. Hist, of Mankind,' 3rd edit. vol. v. 



Wilson, ' Physical Ethnology,' p. 67. Lawrence, « Lectures on 



Smithsonian Institution, 1863, p. Physiology,' p. 337. 



288; on the Fijians, p. 290. Sir n This fact was ascertained is 



J. Lubbock ('Prehistoric Times,' the 'Pveise der No vara : Anthropolog, 



2nd edit. 1869, p. 506) gives an Thiel,' Dr. Weisbach, 1867, s. 265. 

 ex/eUcct resume on this subject. 



