352 
SEXUAL SELECTION: MAN. 
Part II. 
a broad, well-rounded occiput is considered a great 
beauty ” by the natives of the Fiji islands.^^ 
As with the skull, so with the nose ; the ancient Huns 
during the age of Attila were accustomed to flatten 
the noses of their infants with bandages, for the sake 
of exaggerating a natural conformation.” With tlie 
Tahitians, to be called long-nose is considered as an 
insult, and they compress the noses and foreheads of 
their children for the sake of beauty. So it is with the 
Malays of Sumatra, the Hottentots, certain Negroes, 
and the natives of Brazil.®^ The Chinese have by 
nature unusually small feet ; and it is well known 
that the women of the upper classes distort their feet 
to make them still smaller. Lastly, Humboldt thinks 
that the American Indians prefer colouring their bodies 
with red paint in order to exaggerate their natural tint ; 
and until recently European women added to their natu- 
rally bright colours by rouge and white cosmetics ; but 
I doubt whether many barbarous nations have had any 
such intention in painting themselves. 
In the fashions of our own dress we see exactly the 
same principle and the same desire to carry every point 
to an extreme ; we exhibit, also, the same spirit of 
emulation. But the fashions of savages are far more 
permanent than ours ; and whenever their bodies are 
On the skulls of the American tribes, see Nott and Gliddon, 
‘ Types of Mankind,’ 1854, p. 440 ; Prichard, ‘ Pliys. Hist, of Mankind,,' 
vol. i. 3rd edit. p. 321 ; on the natives of Arakhan, ibid. vol. iv. p. 537. 
Wilson, ‘Physical Ethnology,’ Smithsonian Institution, 1863, p. 288; 
on the Fijians, p. 290. Sir J. Lubbock (‘ Prehistoric Times,’ 2nd edit. 
1869, p. 506) gives an excellent resume on this subject. 
On the Huns, Godron, ‘Del’Espece,’ tom. ii. 1859, p. 300. On 
the Tahitians, W^aitz, ‘ Anthropolog.’ Eng. translat. vol. i. p. 305. 
Marsden, quoted by Prichard, ‘ Phys. Hist, of Mankind,’ 3rd edit, 
vol. V. p. 67. Lawrence, ‘ Lectures on Physiology,’ p. 337. 
This fact was ascertained in the ‘Eeise der Y.ovara: Anti ropolog. 
Theil,’ Dr. Weisbach, 1867, s. 265. 
