33 FASHION IN DEFORMITY xx 



Whatever might be the case with regard to the hair, the 

 ears, the nose, and lips, or even the teeth, it might have been 

 thought that the actual shape of the head, as determined by 

 the solid skull, would not have been considered a subject to 

 be modified according to the fashion of the time and place. 

 Such, however, is far from being the case. The custom of 

 artificially changing the form of the head is one of the most 

 ancient and widespread with which we are acquainted. It is 

 far from being confined, as many suppose, to an obscure tribe 

 of Indians on the north-west coast of America, but is found 

 under various modifications at widely different parts of the 

 earth's surface, and among people who can have had no inter- 

 course with one another. It appears, in fact, to have originated 

 independently in many quarters, from some natural impulse 

 common to the human race. When it once became an estab- 

 lished custom in any tribe, it was almost inevitable that it 

 should continue, until put an end to by the destruction either 

 of the tribe itself, or of its peculiar institutions, through the 

 intervention of some superior force ; for a standard of excel- 

 lence in form, which could not be changed in those who 

 possessed it, was naturally followed by all who did not wish 

 their children to run the risk of the social degradation which 

 would follow the neglect of such a custom. " Failure properly 

 to mould the cranium of her offspring gives to the Chinook l 

 matron the reputation of a lazy and undutiful mother, and 

 subjects the neglected children to the ridicule of their young 

 companions, so despotic is fashion." 2 A traveller, who men- 

 tions that he occasionally saw Chinooks with heads of the 

 ordinary shape, sickness or some other cause having prevented 

 the usual distortion in infancy, adds that such individuals 

 could never attain to any influence or rise to any dignity in 

 their tribe, and were not unfrequently sold as slaves 3 



It is related in the narrative of Commodore Wilkes' 

 United States Exploring Expedition, 4 that " at Niculuita Mr. 



1 A tribe of Indians inhabiting the neighbourhood of the Columbia River, 

 North America. 



2 Bancroft, op. cit. vol. i. p. 238. 



3 T. K. Townsend, Journey to the Columbia River, p. 175. 



4 Vol. iv. p. 388. 



