Chap. XIX. 
BEAUTY. 
343 
are thought by the women in one part of Africa to be 
irresistible attractions.^^ In most, but not all parts of 
the world, the men are more highly ornamented than 
the women, and often in a different manner ; sometimes, 
though rarely, the women are hardly at all ornamented. 
As the women are made by savages to perform the 
greatest share of the work, and as they are not allowed 
to eat the best kinds of food, so it accords with the cha- 
racteristic selfishness of man that they should not be 
allowed to obtain, or to use, the finest ornaments. 
Lastly it is a remarkable fact, as proved by the fore- 
going quotations, that the same fashions in modifying 
the shape of the head, in ornamenting the hair, in 
painting, tattooing, perforating the nose, lips, or ears, 
in removing or filing the teeth, &c., now prevail and 
have long prevailed in the most distant quarters of 
the world. It is extremely improbable that these prac- 
tices which are followed by so many distinct nations are 
due to tradition from any common source. They rather 
indicate the close similarity of the mind of man, to what- 
ever race he may belong, in the same manner as the 
almost universal habits of dancing, masquerading, and 
making rude pictures. 
Having made these preliminary remarks on the 
admiration felt by savages for various ornaments, and 
for deformities most unsightly in our eyes, let us see 
how far the men are attracted by the appearance 
of their women, and what are their ideas of beauty. 
As I have heard it maintained that savages are quite 
indifferent about the beauty of their women, valuing 
them solely as slaves, it may be well to observe that 
this conclusion does not at all agree with the care which 
the women take in ornamenting themselves^ or with 
Mantegazza, ‘ Viaggi e Studi/ p. 542. 
