THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO. 983 
against cultivating hair anywhere but on the top of the 
head. Only in chiefs, as a rule, is the beard allowed to 
erow, and that only partially. So also on the body, the 
pile, which would naturally be abundant, and in parts 
even thick, is remorselessly pulled out by the roots, these 
people assiduously cultivating that nakedness of skin to 
which mankind has ever been so partial. 
As a fact, most African races are disposed to be hairy, 
especially on their bodies,* but in so many tribes does the 
practice exist of rigorously pulling out every hair that 
makes its appearance, that one conceives the idea that 
Africans are devoid of hair on their bodies. The only 
races I know of in which I have failed to detect any trace 
of pile, or even beard, without being able to explain their 
absence by the reason that the people prefer naked- 
ness, are the Bushmen and Hottentots; and yet these 
are supposed to be the lowest types of man in Africa. 
It would be interesting to — how this would be 
explained. 
Man in all ages and climes seems to have cultivated a 
bare skin as a “personal attraction. The ancient Greeks 
and Romans practised the same depilatory processes that 
are in vogue amongst Africans of the present day. Priests 
have thought it pleasing to their gods to live smooth- 
shaven; and the courtiers and counsellors of many an 
earthly sovereign have trimmed their free-growing beards 
and curtailed their locks, to acquire a greater air of grave 
and stately bearing. It is indeed curious that hairiness 
has always been considered as a sign of ferocity and 
brutal force, and that soldiers should be allowed to wear 
the moustache which a rigid fashion might deny to a 
civilian. 
Human nakedness is incipient in the baboons, and in 
their relative the gelada monkey. These creatures expose 
their naked parts with evident pride, turning them with 
* This may be said quite as much of other negroes besides the 
Bantu. I have seen Krumen on the Gold Coast whose bodies were 
quite covered with fine curly pile, especially on the breast, stomach, 
thighs, and back. 
