346 SOCIAL AND KELIGIOUS CONDITION OF 



sometimes reaches the shoulder. Others file the teeth iu various man- 

 ners. Dr. Barnard Davis has a Dyack skull from Borneo, iu which the 

 six front teeth are each ornamented by having a small brass pin driven 

 into them. 



Ornamentation of the skin, again, is almost universal among the 

 lower races of men. In some cases every individual follows his own 

 fancy; in others, each class has its own pattern. 



Thus, the Bormouese of Central Africa have twenty cuts or lines on 

 each side of the face, one in the center of the forehead, six on each 

 arm, six on each leg, four on each side of tho chest, and nine on each 

 side just above the hips. This makes ninety-one large cuts, and the 

 process is said to be extremely painful, especially on account of the heat 

 and flies. 



The most familiar example, however, of this mode of ornamentation 

 is the tattooing of the New Zealanders, which also causes much inflam- 

 mation of the skin and great suflering. 



Many other cases might be given in which savages ornament them- 

 selves, as they suppose, iu a manner which must be very i)aiuful. 



Even the shape is forcibly altered by some races of men. Thus the 

 Chinese cripple their ladies by preventing the growth of the feet; and 

 some of the American races even entirely alter the shape of the head, 

 by tight bandages applied to the newly-born infant, a process which one 

 would have expected to affect the intellect, though, as far as the existing 

 evidence goes, it does not appear to do so. 



LAWS. 



Those who have not devoted much attention to the subject have 

 generally regarded the savage as having, at least, one advantage 

 over civilized man, that, namely, of enjoying an amount of personal ' 

 freedom greater than that of individuals belonging to more civilized 

 communities. 



There cannot be a greater mistake. The savage is nowhere free. All 

 over the world his life is regulated by a complicated set of rules and 

 customs as forcible as laws, of quaint prohibitions, and unjust j)rivileges — 

 the iDrohibitions generally applying to the women, and the privileges to 

 the men. 



The Australians, says Mr. Laing, "instead of enjoying perfect per- 

 sonal freedom, as it would at first appear, are governed by a code 

 of rules and a set of customs which form one of the most cruel tyrannies 

 that has ever perhaps existed on the face of the earth, subjecting not 

 only the will, but the property and life of the weak to the dominion 

 of the strong. The whole tendency of the system is to give everything 

 to the strong and old, to the prejudice of the weak and young, and more 

 particularly to the detriment of the women. They have rules by which 

 the best food, the best pieces, the best animals, &c., are prohibited to 

 the women and young men, and reserved for the old. The women are 

 generally appropriated to the old and powerful, some of whom possess 

 from four to six wives ; while wives are altogether denied to young men, 

 unless they have sisters to give in exchange, and are strong and 

 courageous enough to prevent their sisters from being taken without 

 exchange." 



In Tahiti "the men were allowed to eat the flesh of the pig and of 

 fowls, and a variety of fish, cocoa-nuts, and plantains, and whatever was 

 presented as an offering to the gods, which the females on pain of death 

 were forbidden to touch, as it was supposed they would po flute them. 



