FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47  
48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   >>   >|  
uld be much looked down upon." (_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1898, p. 410.) In ancient Samoa the only necessary garment for either man or woman was an apron of leaves, but they possessed so "delicate a sense of propriety" that even "while bathing they have a girdle of leaves or some other covering around the waist." (Turner, _Samoa a Hundred Years Ago_, p. 121.) After babyhood the Indians of Guiana are never seen naked. When they change their single garment they retire. The women wear a little apron, now generally made of European beads, but the Warraus still make it of the inner bark of a tree, and some of seeds. (Everard im Thurn, _Among the Indians of Guiana_, 1883.) The Mandurucu women of Brazil, according to Tocantins (quoted by Mantegazza), are completely naked, but they are careful to avoid any postures which might be considered indecorous, and they do this so skilfully that it is impossible to tell when they have their menstrual periods. (Mantegazza, _Fisiologia della Donna_, cap 9.) The Indians of Central Brazil have no "private parts." In men the little girdle, or string, surrounding the lower part of the abdomen, hides nothing; it is worn after puberty, the penis being often raised and placed beneath it to lengthen the prepuce. The women also use a little strip of bast that goes down the groin and passes between the thighs. Among some tribes (Karibs, Tupis, Nu-Arwaks) a little, triangular, coquettishly-made piece of bark-bast comes just below the mons veneris; it is only a few centimetres in width, and is called the _uluri. In both sexes concealment of the sexual mucous membrane is attained_. These articles cannot be called clothing. "The red thread of the Trumai, the elegant _uluri_, and the variegated flag of the Bororo attract attention, like ornaments, instead of drawing attention away." Von den Steinen thinks this proceeding a necessary protection against the attacks of insects, which are often serious in Brazil. He does think, however, that there is more than this, and that the people are ashamed to show the glans penis. (Karl von den Steinen, _Unter den Naturvoelkern Zentral-Brasiliens_, 1894, pp. 190 et seq.) Other travelers mention that on the Amazon among some tribes the women are clothed and the men naked; among others the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47  
48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Indians

 

Brazil

 

Guiana

 

Mantegazza

 
attention
 

Steinen

 

called

 

girdle

 

leaves

 

garment


tribes

 

articles

 

beneath

 
concealment
 
sexual
 
prepuce
 

membrane

 

mucous

 

attained

 

lengthen


clothing

 

Karibs

 

coquettishly

 
Arwaks
 

triangular

 

passes

 
thighs
 
veneris
 

centimetres

 
Naturvoelkern

Zentral
 

people

 
ashamed
 

Brasiliens

 
mention
 

Amazon

 

clothed

 
travelers
 

attract

 

ornaments


drawing

 
Bororo
 

thread

 

Trumai

 
elegant
 

variegated

 

insects

 

attacks

 
thinks
 

proceeding