A MARK OF CHRISTIANITY. 173 
ors, and more fine forms are therefore to be seen 
among them than among the Yeris: the latter 
also frequently suffer under a most disfiguring 
disease caused by want of exercise and ex- 
cess of nourishment: the legs swell to such a 
degree from the knees downward, that the 
form of the calf and foot is entirely lost, and 
the thick cylinders which usurp the place of 
legs, and from under which the toes only pro- 
ject, resemble nothing but the legs of ele- 
phants; thence the name of elephantism has 
been bestowed on the complaint by Kuropeans. 
It does not appear to cause much pain. 
The men of both classes shave the beard, and 
both sexes cut their hair so close, that the 
skin can be seen under it ; a fashion ugly enough 
for any face, but especially so with their brown 
complexions, as it gives them an ape-like ap- 
pearance. As, however, a compliance with this 
custom, is a mark of Christianity, and the 
heathen fugitives to the mountains have re- 
tained their long hair, even the young females 
are proud of thus disfiguring themselves. 
All vanity is sin, and all care of the person 
is vanity. Hence the fat Yeri beauties no 
