Mr. Winwood Reade, however, who has had ample opportunities for observation, not only with the negroes of the West Coast of Africa, but with those of the interior who have never associated with Europeans, is convinced 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. Reade 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 appreciated: a girl has been heard to say," I do not want to marry him, he has "got no nose;" and this shews 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 colour of our skin; they look on blue eyes with "aversion, 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.68 69 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 shewn in many ways. The practice of beardless races extirpating every trace of a beard, and often all the hairs on the body, affords one illustration. The skull has been greatly modified during ancient and modern times by many nations; and there can be little doubt that this has been practised, especially in N. and S. America, in order to exaggerate some natural and admired 68 The African Sketch Book,' vol. ii. 1873, 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 seen of the 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 most experienced observer, Capt. Burton, believes that a woman whom we consider beautiful is admired throughout the world, Anthropological Review,' March, 1864, p. 245. 69 Personal Narrative,' Eng. translat. vol. iv. p. 518, and elsewhere. Mantegazza, in his 'Viaggi e Studi,' 1867, strongly insists on this same principle. peculiarity. Many American Indians are known to admire a head so extremely flattened as to appear to us idiotic. The natives on the north-western coast compress the head into a pointed cone; and it is their constant practice to gather the hair into a knot on the top of the head, for the sake, as Dr. Wilson remarks, "of increasing the apparent elevation of the favourite conoid form." The inhabitants of Arakhan "admire a broad, smooth forehead, "and in order to produce it, they fasten a plate of lead on the "heads of the new-born children." On the other hand," a broad, "well-rounded occiput is considered a great beauty" by the natives of the Fiji islands.70 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 the 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. The same holds with the Malays of Sumatra, the Hottentots, certain Negroes, and the natives of Brazil." The Chinese have by nature unusually small feet; 72 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 naturally bright colours by rouge and white cosmetics; but it may be doubted whether barbarous nations have generally 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 artificially modified, this is necessarily the case. The Arab women of the Upper Nile occupy about three days in dressing their hair; they never imitate other tribes," but simply 70 On the skulls of the American tribes, see Nott and Gliddon, Types of Mankind,' 1854, p. 440; Prichard, 'Phys. 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 résumé on this subject, On the Huns, Godron, De l'Espèce,' tom. ii. 1859, p. 300. On the Tahitians, Waitz, 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. 72 This fact was ascertained in the 'Reise der Novara: Anthropolog. Thiel,' Dr. Weisbach, 1867, s. 265. 74 "vie with each other in the superlativeness of their own style." Dr. Wilson, in speaking of the compressed skulls of various American races, adds, "such usages are among the least eradi"cable, and long survive the shock of revolutions that change "dynasties and efface more important national peculiarities."78 The same principle comes into play in the art of breeding; and we can thus understand, as I have elsewhere explained, the wonderful development of the many races of animals and plants, which have been kept merely for ornament. Fanciers always wish each character to be somewhat increased; they do not admire a medium standard; they certainly do not desire any great and abrupt change in the character of their breeds; they admire solely what they are accustomed to, but they ardently desire to see each characteristic feature a little more developed. 75 The senses of man and of the lower animals seem to be so constituted that brilliant colours and certain forms, as well as harmonious and rhythmical sounds, give pleasure and are called beautiful; but why this should be so, we know not. It is certainly not true that there is in the mind of man any universal standard of beauty with respect to the human body. It is, however, possible that certain tastes may in the course of time become inherited, though there is no evidence in favour of this belief; and if so, each race would possess its own innate ideal standard of beauty. It has been argued that ugliness consists in an approach to the structure of the lower animals, and no doubt this is partly true with the more civilised nations, in which intellect is highly appreciated; but this explanation will hardly apply to all forms of ugliness. The men of each race prefer what they are accustomed to; they cannot endure any great change; but they like variety, and admire each characteristic carried to a moderate extreme. Men accustomed to a nearly oval face, to straight and regular features, and to bright colours, admire, as we Europeans know, these points when strongly developed. On the other hand, men accustomed to a broad face, with high cheek-bones, a depressed nose, and a black skin, admire these peculiarities when strongly marked. 76 Anthropologie,' 1866, s. 164. 76 Mr. Bain has collected ('Mental and Moral Science,' 1868, pp. 304-314) about a dozen more or less different theories of the idea of beauty; but none are quite the same as that here given, No doubt characters of all kinds may be too much developed for beauty. Hence a perfect beauty, which implies many characters modified in a particular manner, will be in every race a prodigy. As the great anatomist Bichat long ago said, if every one were cast in the same mould, there would be no such thing as beauty. If all our women were to become as beautiful as the Venus de' Medici, we should for a time be charmed; but we should soon wish for variety; and as soon as we had obtained variety, we should wish to see certain characters a little exaggerated beyond the then existing common standard. CHAPTER XX. SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAN-continued. On the effects of the continued selection of women according to a different standard of beauty in each race-On the causes which interfere with sexual selection in civilised and savage nations-Conditions favourable to sexual selection during primeval times-On the manner of action of sexual selection with mankind-On the women in savage tribes having some power to choose their husbands-Absence of hair on the body, and development of the beard-Colour of the skin-Summary. WE have seen in the last chapter that with all barbarous races ornaments, dress, and external appearance are highly valued ; and that the men judge of the beauty of their women by widely different standards. We must next inquire whether this preference and the consequent selection during many generations of those women, which appear to the men of each race the most attractive, has altered the character either of the females alone, or of both sexes. With mammals the general rule appears to be that characters of all kinds are inherited equally by the males and females; we might therefore expect that with mankind any characters gained by the females or by the males through sexual selection, would commonly be transferred to the offspring of both sexes. If any change has thus been effected, it is almost certain that the different races would be differently modified, as each has its own standard of beauty. With mankind, especially with savages, many causes interfere with the action of sexual selection as far as the bodily frame is concerned. Civilised men are largely attracted by the mental charms of women, by their wealth, and especially by their social position; for men rarely marry into a much lower rank. The men who succeed in obtaining the more beautiful women, will not have a better chance of leaving a long line of descendants |