fi 



064 "THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



with respect to Borneo and the countries inhabited by the 

 Pullo tribes. Mr. Reade found that he agreed with the 

 negroes in their estimation of the beauty of the native girls; 

 and that their appreciation of the beauty of European 

 women corresponded with ours. They admire long hair, 

 and use artificial means to make it appear abundant; they 

 admire also a beard, though themselves very scantily pro- 

 vided. Mr. Reade feels doubtful what kind of nose is most 

 appreciated; a girl has been heard to say: ^^I do not want 

 to marry him, he has got no nose;" and this shows that a 

 very flat nose is not admired. We should, however, bear 

 in mind that the depressed, broad noses and projecting 

 jaws of the negroes of the west coast are exceptional types 

 with the inhabitants of Africa. Notwithstanding the fore- 

 oing statements, Mr. Reade admits that negroes " do not 

 ike the color of our skin; they look on blue eyes with aver- 

 sion, and they think our noses too long and our lips too 

 thin." He does not think it probable that negroes would 

 ever prefer the most beautiful European woman, on the 

 mere grounds of physical admiration, to a good-looking 

 negress. * 



The general truth of the principle, long ago insisted on 

 by Humboldt,! that man admires and often tries to exag- 

 gerate whatever characters nature may have given him, is 

 shown in many ways. The practice of beardless races 

 extirpating every trace of a beard, and often all the hairs 

 on the body, affords one illustration. The skull has been 

 greatly modified during ancient and modern times by many 

 nations; and there can be little doubt that this has been 

 practiced, especially in North and South America, in order 



*The "African Sketch-book," vol. ii, 1873, pp. 253, 394, 521. 

 The Fuegians, as I have been informed by a missionary who long 

 resided with them, consider European women as extremely beautiful; 

 but from what we have seen of the judgment of the other al)origines of 

 America, I cannot but think that this must be a mistake, unless 

 indeed the statement refers to the few Fuegians who have lived for 

 some time with Europeans, and who must consider us as superior 

 beings. I should add that a most experienced observer, C'apt. Bur- 

 ton, believes that a woman whom we consider beautiful is admired 

 throughout the world. " Anthropological Review," March, 1864, p. 

 245. 



f "Personal Narrative," Eng. translat., vol. iv, p. 518, and else- 

 where. Mantegazza, in his " Viaggi e Studi," strongly insists on 

 this same principle. 



