658 THE DESCENT OF MAN, 



the chill are thought by the women in one part of Africa 

 to be irresistible attractions.* In most, but not all parts of 

 tlie world, the men are more ornamented than tlie women, 

 and often in a different manner; sometimes, though rarely, 

 the women are hardly at all ornamented. As the women 

 are made by savages td perform the greatest share of the 

 work, and as they are not allowed to eat the best kinds of 

 food, so it accords with the characteristic selfishness of man 

 that they should not be allowed to obtain or use the finest 

 ornaments. Lastly, it is a remarkable fact, as proved by 

 the foregoing quotations, that the same fashions in modi- 

 fying the shape of the head, in ornamenting the hair, in 

 painting, tattooing, in perforating the nose, lips or ears, in 

 removing or filing the teeth, etc., now prevail, and have 

 ,long prevailed, in the most distant quarters of the world. 

 It is extremely improbable that these practices, followed by 

 so many distinct nations, should be due to tradition from 

 any common source. They indicate the close similarity of 

 the mind of man, to whatever race he may belong, just as 

 do the almost universal habits of dancing, masquerading 

 and making rude pictures. 



Having made these preliminary remarks on the admira- 

 tion felt by savages for various ornaments and for de- 

 formities most unsightly in our eyes, let us see how far the 

 men are attracted by the appearance of their women and 

 what are their ideas of beauty. I have heard it maintained 

 that savages are quite indifferent about the beauty of their 

 women, valuing them solely as slaves; it may, therefore, be 

 well to observe that this conclusion does not at all agree 

 with the care which the women take in ornamenting them- 

 selves, or with their vanity. Burchell \ gives an amusing 

 account of a Bush-woman who used as much grease, red 

 ocher and shining powder '' as would have ruined any but 

 a very rich husband." She displayed also ^^ much vanity 

 and too evident a consciousness of her superiority." Mr. 

 Winwood Reade informs me that the negroes of the West 

 Coast often discuss the beauty of their women. Some 

 competent observers have attributed the fearfully common 

 practice of infanticide partly to the desire felt by the 



*Mantegazza, " Viaggi e Studi," p. 542, 

 f " Travels in S. Africa," 1834, vol. i, p. 414. 



