408 HISTORY OF 



the redness of their hair.- The nose also of the 

 Grecian Venus was such as would appear at pre- 

 sent an actual deformity ; as it fell in a straight 

 line from the forehead, without the smallest sink- 

 ing between the eyes, without which we never 

 see a face at present. 



Among the moderns, every country seems to 

 have peculiar ideas of beauty.* The Persians 

 admire large eye-brows, joining in the middle ; 

 the edges and corners of the eyes are tinctured 

 with black, and the size of the head is increased 

 by a great variety of bandages, formed into a 

 turban. In some parts of India, black teeth and 

 white hair are desired with ardour ; and one of 

 the principal employments of the women of Thibet, 

 is to redden the teeth with herbs, and to make 

 their hair white by a certain preparation. The 

 passion for coloured teeth obtains also in China 

 and Japan ; where, to complete their idea of 

 beauty, the object of desire must have little eyes, 

 nearly closed, feet extremely small, and a waist 

 far from being shapely. There are some nations 

 of the American Indians that flatten the heads 

 of their children, by keeping them, while young, 

 squeezed between two boards, so as to make the 

 visage much larger than it would naturally be. 

 Others flatten the head at top ; and others still, 

 make it as round as they possibly can. The in- 

 habitants along the western coasts of Africa have 

 a very extraordinary taste for beauty. A flat 

 npse, thick lips, and a jet-black complexion, are 



* Buffon. 



