The women of the Indo-European race are remarkable for the length of
their hair. “Dans nos contrées,” Isidore Geoffroy observes, “ces
développements ajoutent à la beauté des femmes; dans d’autres pays,
si on les y observait, ils passeraient presque pour de légers vices
de conformation.”[1556] “A small round face,” says Castrén, “full
rosy red cheeks and lips, white forehead, black tresses, and small
dark eyes are marks of a Samoyede beauty. Thus in a Samoyedian song
a girl is praised for her small eyes, her broad face, and its rosy
colour.”[1557] These, as we know, are the typical characteristics of
the Samoyedes.[1558] As to the Tartar women, who generally have far
less prominent noses than we in Europe are accustomed to see, Father
de Rubruquis states, “The less their noses the handsomer they are
esteemed.”[1559] In Fiji, the remarkably broad occiput, peculiar
to its people, is looked upon as a mark of beauty.[1560] Among the
Egyptians Mr. Lane scarcely ever saw corpulent persons, and, unlike
many other African peoples, they do not admire very fat women:—“In
his love-songs, the Egyptian commonly describes the object of his
affections as of slender figure, and small waist.”[1561] “The
negroes,” says v. Humboldt, “give the preference to the thickest and
most prominent lips; the Kalmucks to turned-up noses; and the Greeks,
in the statues of heroes, raised the facial line from 85° to 100°
beyond nature. The Aztecs, who never disfigure the heads of their
children, represent their principal divinities, as their hieroglyphical
manuscripts prove, with a head much more flattened than any I have ever
seen among the Caribs.”[1562]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account