The Brookhaven leader., 1884-04-03
Habits OF Lower Races.

lation is that which exists between one
woman and several men at the same
time, and known under the designat on
of polygamy. This custom is dJstribut-
ed over India, Thibet and Ceylon. and
in the latter country the husbands must
be brothers. Among the lower races
the institution of marriage does not ex-
list, and love is an emotion unknown.
In fact, many Ian guages are lacking in
words to express its n meaning. When
native Austral an wants wife he how
ers about the girl of his choice until
good opportunity occurs, strikes her
over the head with his war club, knock
ing her senseless, then drags her away
by the hair. 1t may be that several men
may have had an eye on this particular
beauty, and if so savage fight takes
place, and sometimes the poor creature
is almost dismembered by her admirers.
THIS custom of the capture of wives
prevails among some of the
tribes of the Indian Archipelago, but
the husband must return and make
peace with the enraged relatives by pay
ing her value, after which she becomes
his slave. The FijanS capture their
wives, but if the woman is not suited
with her husband she escapes, and
runs to some one who can protect her.
If she is satisfied he must givea feast to
her relatives. and she is thenceforth
considered his wife. In one tribe of the
Philippine Islands the young man
makes known his wishes to the parents
of the girl, who send her at sunrise into
the woods, an hour before her admirer.
Ii he finds her before sunset she is his
wife, if not he forfets all Gains. This
gives the girl chance, as she NAV eX-
erci:e her own Judgment as TO the man
ner of her hiding.
The law of inheritance among civil
lied people, whereby the prop
rrty OF the father descends to his chill
dren, seems 50 natural one would infer
that it must lie universal, yet such is
far from be NO the case. In different
port ons of Africa it is a son of the
Kings sister who inherits the throne,
thus assuring the descent 10 the royal
blood. In Guinea when rich man
dies his property likewise descends to
his sisters son. Herodotus mentions
that among the Lycians the name was
taken from the mother, and according
to Polybius, the same custom prevailed
boos, a tribe in India, the father may
purchase his sons of the mother, where
upon they take his name and join his
tribe, but the girls remain with the
mothers tribe. If a woman among the
Hudson's Bay Indians marrieS several
husbands and bears children by each,
they all take their mothers name. In
the Friendly Islands nobility descends
by the female line, and in Western Aus
tralia the children always take the name
of the mother.
The standard of beauty among the
lower races, as among those ci iliZed, is
entirely a ma ter of education, although
fashion with us is less eHacting in its re-
lation 10 distortion of the human figure.
Civilized women do not resort to the
same degree of deformity in tn feet as
do the Chinese, ne Their do the Chinese
women compress their wa sts to abnor-
NAL size. The extravaganza in per-
sonal ornamentation which civilized
people lavish upon tn tir clothing, is
among savageS expended in the adorn-
ment OF the body. In fact, it has been
asserted by an In !lsh philo opher that
clothing was first invented for ornament
and not for warmth. Among the naked
Indians of South America q robust man
will work at hard labor for a fortnight
in order to procure in exchange enough
chica to pa MT himself red. Huml oldt
has said that, "If painted nations had
been examined with the same attention
as clothed nations, it would have been
perceived that the most fertile magma
ton and the most ,mutuab'e caprice
have created the fashions of painting,
as well as those of garments.
In the Malay archipelago it is consid-
cred shameful to have white teeth like
those of dog, and in different countries
they are stained black, blue. red, etc.
Tattoo ne is almost universal among
savages, and the same custom was fol-
lowed by the ancient Jews and the
aborigines of England. Some of the
Africans tattoo, but it is more common
among them to raise prOtuberances by
rubbing salt into incisions made in diff
ferent parts of the body. In Arab coun-
tries no beauty can pass muster in fash
ionable society until her cheeks or tenn
Piles have been gashed. The hair has
been subject to the greatest variety of
fashions from the earliest times. The
present fashion of banging was pTac-
ticed among the Greeks and Romans,
and in ancient sculptures Zeus is repre-.
scented with hair curled upon his fore
head, from central point. like that
upon the front of bull. In Northern
Africa, eight or ten years are required
for man to perfect his couture. The
Fiiians give the greatest attention to the
hair, and most of the chiefs have a
special hair-dresser, to whom they de-
vote as many hours each day as did the
grand DANES of France at the time of
Louis XIV. The heads of the Fillans
sometimes reach the circumference of
five feet when the hair is dressed. Black
is the natural color, yet some prefer it
white, or even red. Some are not con-
tent even with uniform color, and dye
the front hair white o. red, leaving the
back portion back. Another will shave
his crown, excepting a tuft on top,
which is dyed fiery red. A third will
shave his head, leaving small punches
like the dabber of backing brush. In
some parts of Africa and South Ameri-
ca, they pluck out the eyebrows. In
the Upper Nile country the natives
knock out the four front teeth, giving
as an excuse that they do not wish to
resemble brutes. Further south they
knock out the two upper incisors, and
this is considered so necessary to their
beauty that on first seeing Europeans
some of thom cried ont. al oOk at the