SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS. 665 



to exaggerate some natural and admired peculiarity. Many 

 American Indians are known to admire a head so extremely 

 flattened as to appear to us idiotic. The natives on the 

 northwestern coast compress the head into a pointed cone; 

 and it is their constant practice to gather the hair into a 

 knot on the top of the head, for the sake, as Dr. Wilson 

 remarks, "of increasing the apparent elevation of the 

 favorite conoid form." The inhabitants of Arakhan 

 " admire a broad, smooth forehead, and, in order to pro- 

 duce it, they fasten a plate of lead on the heads of the 

 new-born children." On the other hand, "a broad, well- 

 rounded occiput is considered a great beauty" by the 

 natives of the Fiji Islands.* 



As with the skuJ, so with the nose; the ancierit Huns, 

 during the age of Attila, were accustomed to flatten the 

 noses of their infants with bandages, "for the sake of 

 exaggerating a natural conformation." With the Tahitians, 

 to be Galled, long-nose is considered as an insult, and they 

 compress the noses and foreheads of their children for the 

 sake of beauty. The same holds with the Malays of 

 Sumatra, the Hottentots, certain negroes and the natives 

 of Brazil. f The Chinese have by nature unusually small 

 feet; J and it is well known that the women of the upper 

 classes distort their feet to make them still smaller. 

 Lastly, Humboldt thinks that the American Indians prefer 

 coloring their bodies with red paint in order to exaggerate 

 their natural tint; and until recently European women 

 added to their naturally bright colors by rouge and 

 white cosmetics ; but it may be doubted whether barbarous 

 nations have generally had any such intention in paint- 

 ing themselves. 



*0n the skulls of the American tribes, see Nott and Gliddon, 

 " Types of Mankind," 1854, p. 440; Prichard, "Phys. Hist, of Man- 

 kind," vol. i, 3d edit., p. 321 ; on the natives of Arakhan, ibid, vol. 

 iv, p. 537. Wilson, "Physical Ethnology," Smithsonian Institution, 

 1863, p. 288; on the Fijians, p. 290. Sir J. Lubbock (" Prehistoric 

 Times," 2d edit., 1869, p. 506) gives an excellent resume on this sub- 

 ject. 



f On the Huns, Godron, " De TEspece," torn, ii, 1859, p. 300. On 

 the Tahitians, Waitz, " Anthropolog.," Eng. translat., vol. i, p. 305. 

 Mnrsden, quoted by Prichard, " Phys. Hist, of Mankind," 3d edit, 

 vol. v, p. 67. Lawrence, "Lectures on Physiology," p. 337. 



t Tliis fact was ascertained in tL^ " Reise der Novara : Anthropo- 

 :kiei," Dr. Weiajach, 18ti7, a. 



