The object of the painting of the body, so commonly practised among savages, seems sometimes to be to exaggerate the natural colour of the skin. Von Humboldt believes that this is the reason why the American Indians paint themselves with red ochre and earth.[1573] The natives of Tana, who have the colour of an old copper coin, usually dye their bodies a few shades darker;[1574] whilst the Bornabi Islanders, who have a light copper-coloured complexion, “anoint their bodies with turmeric, in order to give themselves a whiter appearance.”[1575] The Javanese, when in full dress, smear themselves with a yellow cosmetic.[1576] And, speaking of the people of a place in Maabar (Coromandel Coast), Marco Polo says, “The children that are born here are black enough, but the blacker they be the more they are thought of; wherefore from the day of their birth their parents do rub them every week with oil of sesamé, so that they become as black as devils. Moreover, they make their gods black and their devils white, and the images of their saints they do paint black all over.”[1577] The question,—What characteristics of the human form are deemed beautiful? may now be answered. Men find beauty in the full development of the visible characteristics belonging to the human organism in general; of those peculiar to the sex; of those peculiar to the race. We have next to consider the connection of love and beauty. That this connection does not depend upon the æsthetic pleasure excited by beauty is obvious from the fact that the intrinsic character of an æsthetic feeling is disinterestedness, whereas the intrinsic character of love is the very reverse. So far as beauty implies the full development of characteristics essential to the human organism, or to either of the sexes, the preference given to it follows from the instinctive inclination to healthiness, already mentioned, and needs no further discussion. The question is to explain the stimulating influence of racial perfection. “In barbarous nations,” says v. Humboldt, “there is a physiognomy peculiar to the tribe or horde rather than to any individual. When we compare our domestic animals with those which inhabit our forests, we make the same observation.”[1578] The accuracy of this statement has been confirmed by later writers;[1579] and we may say with M. Godron, “C’est —aujourd’hui un fait parfaitement acquis à la science, que plus un peuple se rapproche de l’état de nature, plus les hommes qui le composent se ressemblent entre eux.”[1580] This likeness does not refer to the physiognomy only, but to the body as a whole. The variations of stature, for instance, are known to be least considerable among the peoples least advanced in civilization.[1581]