214 EXPRESSION OF LOVE, ETC. Chap. VIII. 



We Europeans are so accustomed to kissing as a 

 mark of affection, that it might be thought to be innate 

 in mankind; but this is not the case. Steele was mis- 

 taken when he said " Nature was its author, and it began 

 with the first courtship." Jemmy Button, the Fuegian, 

 told me that this practice was unknown in his land. It 

 is equally unknown with the New Zealanders, Tahitians, 

 Papuans, Australians, Somals of Africa, and the Esqui- 

 maux. 22 But it is so far innate or natural that it appar- 

 ently depends on pleasure from close contact with a be- 

 loved person; and it is replaced in various parts of the 

 world, by the rubbing of noses, as with the New Zea- 

 landers and Laplanders, by the rubbing or patting of 

 the arms, breasts, or stomachs, or by one man striking 

 his own face with the hands or feet of another. Perhaps 

 the practice of blowing, as a mark of affection, on vari- 

 ous parts of the body may depend on the same princi- 

 ple. 23 



The feelings which are called tender are difficult to 

 analyse; they seem to be compounded of affection, joy, 

 and especially of sympathy. These feelings are in them- 

 selves of a pleasurable nature, excepting when pity is 

 too deep, or horror is aroused, as in hearing of a tortured 

 man or animal. They are remarkable under our present 

 point of view from so readily exciting the secretion of 

 tears. Many a father and son have wept on meeting after 

 a long separation, especially if the meeting has been un- 

 expected. No doubt extreme joy by itself tends to act 

 on the lacrymal glands; but on such occasions as the 

 foregoing vague thoughts of the grief which would have 



22 Sir J. Lubbock, ' Prehistoric Times,' 2nd edit. 1869, 

 p. 552, gives full authorities for these statements. The 

 quotation from Steele is taken from this work. 



23 See a full acount, with references, by E. B. Tylor, 

 ' Researches into the Early History of Mankind,' 2nd edit. 

 1870, p. 51. 



