s of life. It is so also among the
Basutos, and the Kaffirs are addicted to the same habit.[186] The Fuegians
have a word for masturbation, and a special word for masturbation by
women.[187] When the Spaniards first arrived at Vizcaya, in the
Philippines, they found that masturbation was universal, and that it was
customary for the women to use an artificial penis and other abnormal
methods of sexual gratification. Among the Balinese, according to Jacobs
(as quoted by Ploss and Bartels), masturbation is general; in the boudoir
of many a Bali beauty, he adds, and certainly in every harem, may be found
a wax penis to which many hours of solitude are devoted. Throughout the
East, as Eram, speaking from a long medical experience, has declared,
masturbation is very prevalent, especially among young girls. In Egypt,
according to Sonnini, it is prevalent in harems. In India, a medical
correspondent tells me, he once treated the widow of a wealthy Mohammedan,
who informed him that she began masturbation at an early age, "just like
all other women." The same informant tells me that on the _facade_ of a
large temple in Orissa are bas-reliefs, representing both men and women,
alone, masturbating, and also women masturbating men. Among the Tamils of
Ceylon masturbation is said to be common. In Cochin China, Lorion remarks,
it is practiced by both sexes, but especially by the married women.[188]
Japanese women have probably carried the mechanical arts of auto-erotism
to the highest degree of perfection. They use two hollow balls about the
size of a pigeon's egg (sometimes one alone is used), which, as described
by Joest, Christian, and others,[189] are made of very thin leaf of brass;
one is empty, the other (called the little man) contains a small heavy
metal ball, or else some quicksilver, and sometimes metal tongues which
vibrate when set in movement; so that if the balls are held in the hand
side by side there is a continuous movement. The empty one is first
introduced into the vagina in contact with the uterus, then the other; the
slightest movement of the pelvis or thighs, or even spontaneous movement
of the organs, causes the metal ball (or the quicksilver) to roll, and the
resulting vibration produces a prolonged voluptuous titillation, a gentle
shock as from a weak electric inductive apparatus; the balls are called
_rin-no-tama_, and are held in the vagina by a paper tampon. The women who
use these balls delight to swing thems