FURTHER CLASS-DISTINCTIONS. 207 



ful, traits, only to be acquired by those whose abundant 

 means enable them to live without labour, or to indulge in 

 some kind of sensual excess. 



One group of these distinctions, slightly illustrated 

 among ourselves by the pride taken in delicate hands, as in 

 dicating freedom from manual labor, is exhibited in 

 marked forms in some societies that are comparatively little 

 advanced. &quot; The chiefs in the Society Islands value them 

 selves on having long nails on all, or on some, of their fin 

 gers.&quot; &quot; Fijian kings and priests wear the finger nails 

 long,&quot; says Jackson; and in Sumatra, &quot; persons of superior 

 rank encourage the growth of their hand-nails, particular 

 ly those of the fore and little fingers, to an extraordinary 

 length.&quot; Everyone knows that a like usage has a like ori 

 gin in China; where, however, long nails have partially 

 lost their meaning: upper servants being allowed to \vear 

 them. But of personal defects similarly originating, China 

 furnishes a far more striking instance in the cramped feet of 

 ladies. Obviously these have become signs of class-dis 

 tinction, because of the implied inability to labour, and 

 the implied possession of means sufficient to purchase at 

 tendance. Then, again, as marking rank because 

 implying riches, we have undue, and sometimes excessive, 

 fatness; either of the superior person himself or of his be 

 longings. The beginnings of this may be traced in quite 

 early stages; as among some uncivilized American peoples. 

 &quot; An Indian is respectable in his own community, in propor 

 tion as his wife and children look fat and well fed : this be 

 ing a proof of his prowess and success as a hunter, and his 

 consequent riches.&quot; From this case, in which the relation 

 between implied wealth and implied power is directly rec 

 ognized, we pass in the course of social development to cases 

 in which, instead of the normal fatness indicating suffi 

 ciency, there comes the abnormal fatness indicating super 

 fluity, and, consequently, greater wealth. In China, great 

 fatness is a source of pride in a mandarin. Ellis tells us 



