4S APPLIED TO MAN. 347 
back, laced on, and shifted from side to side as the 
wind blows. The Hottentots also wore a somewhat 
similar skin over the back, which they never removed, 
and in which they were buried. Even in the tropics 
most savages take precautions to keep their backs dry. 
The natives of Timor use the leaf of a fan palm, care- 
fully stitched up and folded, which they always carry 
with them, and which, held over the back, forms an 
admirable protection from the rain. Almost all the 
Malay races, as well as the Indians of South America, 
make great palm-leaf hats, four feet or more across, 
which they use during their canoe voyages to protect 
their bodies from heavy showers of rain; and they 
use smaller hats of the same kind when travelling 
by land. . 
We find, then, that so far from there being any 
reason to believe that a hairy covering to the back 
‘could have been hurtful or even useless to pre-historic 
man, the habits of modern savages indicate exactly the 
opposite view, as they evidently feel the want of it, and 
are obliged to provide substitutes of various kinds. 
The perfectly erect posture of man, may be supposed to 
have something to do with the disappearance of the 
hair from his body, while it remains on his head; but 
when walking, exposed to rain and wind, a man natur- 
ally stoops forwards, and thus exposes his back ; and the 
undoubted fact, that most savages feel the effects of cold 
and wet most severely in that part of the body, suffi- 
ciently demonstrates that the hair could not have ceased 
to grow there merely because it was useless, even if it 
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