330 SEXUAL SELECTION: MAX. [Part IL 



out who projects forthcst a tergo. Nothing can be more 

 hateful to a negro tlian tlie opposite form." " 



Witli respect to color, the negroes rallied ]\Iungo Park 

 on the wliitoness of his skin and the prominence of his nose, 

 both of which they considered as " unsightly and minat- 

 ural conformations." He in return praised the glossy jet 

 of their skins and the lovely depression of their noses ; 

 this they said was " honey-moxith," nevertheless they gave 

 him food. The African Moors, also, " knitted their brows 

 and seemed to shudder " at the whiteness of his skin. On 

 the eastern coast, the negro boys, when they saw Burton, 

 cried out, " Look at the white man ! does he not look like 

 a white ape ? " On the western coast, as Mr. Winwood 

 Reade informs me, the negroes admire a very black skin 

 more than one of a lighter tint. But their horror of white- 

 ness may be partly attributed, according to this same 

 traveller, to the belief held by most negroes that demons 

 and spirits are white. 



The Banyai of the more southern part of the continent 

 are negroes, but " a great many of them are of a light coflfee- 

 and-milk color, and, indeed, this color is considered hand- 

 some throughout the whole country ; " so that here we 

 have a ditFerent standard of taste. With the Kaftres, who 

 differ much from negroes, " the skin, except among the 

 tribes near Delagoa Bay, is not usually black, the prevail- 

 ing color being a mixture of black and red, the most com- 

 mon shade being chocolate. Dark complexions, as being 

 most common, are naturally held in the highest esteem. 

 To be told that he is light-colored, or like a white man, 

 would be deemed a very poor compliment by a Kaffre. I 

 have heard of one unfortunate man who Avas so very fair 

 that no girl would marry him." One of the titles of the 



" 'The Anthropological Review,' Nov. 1864, p. 237. For additional 

 references, see Waitz, ' lutroduct. to Anthropology,' Eng. translat. 1803, 

 vol i. p. 105. 



