: 



f 



300 PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART II. 



sexes bathe together. 1 Some Indians on the Orinoco, where 

 both sexes go about naked, were at first ashamed to wear 

 clothes, 3 as it seemed to them indecent to appear before 

 strangers unpainted. 3 



The original motives, however, of painting and tattooing the 

 body could hardly have been to cover nakedness from a feeling o 

 shame ; the former was resorted to for ornamentation, the latter 

 to mark the tribe or the family. The disinclination to wear 

 clothes is pretty general among uncivilized nations. The feeling 

 of shame, if it exist, extends only to the presence of strangers, 

 particularly Europeans ; it is only before them that the women 

 of Timor veil the bosom, and the Indian women of Brazil wear 

 a cest. 4 This applies also to the Australian. 5 If dress were the 

 result of a feeling of shame, we should expect it to be more in- 

 dispensable to woman than to man, which is not the case. 

 Among many African tribes the males only cover the body. 6 

 Among some of these tribes married women go about naked, 

 but not unmarried girls. 7 In Australia, also, girls before 

 marriage wear an apron, which is laid aside afterwards. 8 

 Among the Gruanches the reverse takes place. 9 The latter 

 custom arises generally from a better moral tone, the dress of 

 girls being used as a mere stimulant. In Akra the girls, as 

 distinguished from married women, go about perfectly naked ; 

 and among some Sererer tribes the want of clothing is a mark 

 of virginity. 10 There remains, however, an unfavourable ex- 

 planation, namely, that a girl is permitted to exhibit her 

 charms, but the wife is the property of the husband, at whose 

 command she must dress. To appear naked before another 



1 Heller, < Eeise in Mexico," p. 217, 1853. 



2 Gumilla, " Hist, de FOrenoque," chap, vii, 1788. 



3 Gilii, "Nachr. v. Gruiana," p. 253, 1785. 



4 Spix und Martius, "Eeise/' p. 370; Peron, "Voyage de Decouv.," 2nd 

 edit. ; Freycinet, iv, p. 18, 1824. 



a Barrington, "History of N. S. Wales," p. 37, 1810; Eyre, "Journals of 

 Expeditions into Central Australia," ii, p. 216, 1845 ; Hind, in " Journal of 

 Eoy. Geogr. Soc.," i, p. 40. 



6 Earth, " Eeisen u. Entdeck.," ii, p. 473. 



? Ibid, p. 467. 



8 Barrington, loc. cit., p. 23. 



9 Webb et Berthelot, " Histoire nat. des lies Canaries." 



10 Zimmermann, " Vocabulary of the Akra language," pp. 190, 253 ; Boilat, 

 " Esquisses Senegalaises," p. 104, 1853. 



