in the hole. This caused the lip in one case to project two inches
beyond the tip of the nose; and when the lady smiled, the contraction
of the muscles elevated it over the eyes. Why do the women wear these
things? the venerable chief, Chinsurdi, was asked. Evidently surprised
at such a stupid question, he replied, For beauty! They are the only
beautiful things women have; men have beards, women have none. What
kind of a person would she be without the pelele? She would not be a
woman at all with a mouth like a man, but no beard. (49. Livingstone,
British Association, 1860; report given in the Athenaeum, July 7,
1860, p. 29.)
Hardly any part of the body, which can be unnaturally modified, has
escaped. The amount of suffering thus caused must have been extreme,
for many of the operations require several years for their completion,
so that the idea of their necessity must be imperative. The motives are
various; the men paint their bodies to make themselves appear terrible
in battle; certain mutilations are connected with religious rites, or
they mark the age of puberty, or the rank of the man, or they serve to
distinguish the tribes. Amongst savages the same fashions prevail for
long periods (50. Sir S. Baker (ibid. vol. i. p. 210) speaking of the
natives of Central Africa says, every tribe has a distinct and
unchanging fashion for dressing the hair. See Agassiz ( Journey in
Brazil, 1868, p. 318) on invariability of the tattooing of Amazonian
Indians.), and thus mutilations, from whatever cause first made, soon
come to be valued as distinctive marks. But self-adornment, vanity, and
the admiration of others, seem to be the commonest motives. In regard
to tattooing, I was told by the missionaries in New Zealand that when
they tried to persuade some girls to give up the practice, they
answered, We must just have a few lines on our lips; else when we grow
old we shall be so very ugly. With the men of New Zealand, a most
capable judge (51. Rev. R. Taylor, New Zealand and its Inhabitants,
1855, p. 152.) says, to have fine tattooed faces was the great
ambition of the young, both to render themselves attractive to the
ladies, and conspicuous in war. A star tattooed on the forehead and a
spot on the chin are thought by the women in one part of Africa to be
irresistible attractions. (52. Mantegazza, Viaggi e Studi, p. 542.)
In most, but not all parts of the world, the men are more 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
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