662 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



In several of the tribes of North America the hair on the 

 head grows to a wonderful length; and Catlin gives a 

 curious proof how much this is esteemed, for the chief of 

 the Crows was elected to this office from having the longest 

 hair of any man in the tribe; namely, ten feet and seven 

 inches. The Aymaras and Quichuas of South America 

 likewise have very long hair; and this, as Mr. D. Forbes 

 informs me, is so much valued as a beauty, that cutting it 

 off was the severest punishment which he could inflict on 

 them. In both the northern and southern halves of the 

 continent the natives sometimes increase the apparent 

 length of their hair by weaving into it fibrous substances. 

 Although the hair on the head is thus cherished, that on 

 the face is considered by the North American Indians i( as 

 very vulgar," and every hair is carefully eradicated. This 

 practice prevails throughout the American continent from 

 Vancouver's Island in the north to Terra del Fuego in the 

 south. When York Minster, a Fuegian on board the 

 " Beagle," was taken back to his country, the natives told 

 him he ought to pull out the few short hairs on his face. 

 They also threatened a young missionary, who was left for 

 a time with them, to strip him naked and pluck the hairs, 

 from his face and body, yet he was far from being a hairy 

 man. This fashion is carried so far that the Indians of 

 Paraguay eradicate their eyebrows and eyelashes, saying 

 that they do not wish to be like horses.* 



It is remarkable that throughout the world the races 

 which are almost completely destitute of a beard dislike 

 hairs on the face and body, and take pains to eradicate 

 them. The Kalmucks are beardless and they are well 

 known, like the Americans, to pluck out all straggling 

 hairs ; and so it is with the Polynesians, some of the 

 Malays and the Siamese. Mr. Veitch states that the 

 Japanese ladies " all objected to our whiskers, considering 

 them very ugly, and told us to cut them off and be like 

 Japanese men." The New Zealanders have short, curled 

 beards; yet they formerly plucked out the hairs on the 

 face. They had a saying that " there is no woman for a 

 hairy man; v but it would appear that the fashion has 



* " North American Indians," by G. Catlin, 3d edit. 1842, vol. i, p. 

 49; vol. ii. p. 227. On the natives of Vancouver's Island, see Sproat, 

 " Scenes and Studies of Savage Life," 1868, p. 25. On the Indiana 

 of Paraguay, Azara, "Voyages," torn, ii, p, 105. 



