SEXUAL SELECTION IN RELATION TO MAN 749 



interior who have never associated with Europeans, is con- 

 vinced that their ideas of beauty are on the whole the same 

 as ours; and Dr. Rohlfs writes to me to the same effect with 

 respect to Bornu and the countries inhabited by the Pullo 

 tribes. Mr. Keade found that he agreed with the negroes 

 in their estimation of the beauty of the native girls; and 

 that their appreciation of the beauty of European women 

 corresponded with ours. They admire long hair, and use 

 artificial means to make it appear abundant; they admire 

 also a beard, though themselves very scantily provided. 

 Mr. Reade feels doubtful what kind of nose is most appre- 

 ciated: a girl has been heard to say, "I do not want to 

 marry him, he has got no nose"; and this shows that a 

 very flat nose is not admired. We should, however, bear 

 in mind that the depressed, broad noses and projecting jaws 

 of the negroes of the West Coast are exceptional types with 

 the inhabitants of Africa. Notwithstanding the foregoing 

 statements, Mr. Reade admits that negroes "do not like 

 the color of our skin; they look on blue eyes with aver- 

 sion, and they think our noses too long and our lips too 

 thin." He does not think it probable that negroes would 

 ever prefer the most beautiful European woman, on the 

 mere grounds of physical admiration, to a good-looking 

 negress.'* 



The general truth of the principle, long ago insisted 

 on by Humboldt,'" that man admires and often tries to 

 exaggerate whatever characters nature may have given 

 him, is shown in many ways. The practice of beardless 



«8 "The African Sketch Book," vol. ii., 18T3, pp. 253, 394, 521. The 

 Fuegians, as I have been informed by a missionary who long resided with 

 them, consider European women as extremely beautiful; but from what we 

 have seon of Ihe judgment of the other aborigines of America, I cannot but. 

 think that, this must be a mistake, unless indeed the statement refers to the 

 few Fuegians who have lived for some time with Europeans, and who must 

 consider us as superior beings. I should add that a moat experienced observer, 

 Capt. Burton, believes \h&\, a woman whom we consider beautiful is admired 

 throughout the world. "Anthropological Review," March, 1864, p. 245. 



«9 "Personal Narrative," Eng. translat., vol. iv. p. 518, and elsewhere. 

 Mantegazza, in his "Viaggi e Studi," 1867, strongly insists on this same 

 princi^. 



