nation the "female
disease." Herodotus, from whom we learn this, says:

"The Scythians themselves confess that their countrymen suffer
this malady in consequence of the above crime; their condition
also may be seen by those who visit Scythia, where they are
called Enareae."--Beloe's Translation, vol. i. p. 112., ed. 8vo.

And again, vol. ii. p. 261., Hippocrates says:

"There are likewise among the Scythians, persons who come into
the world as eunuchs, and do all the work of women; they are
called Enaraeans, or womanish," &c.

It would occupy too much space to detail here all the speculations to
which this passage has given rise; sufficient for us be the fact, that
in Scythia there were men who dressed as, and associated with, the
women; that they were considered as victims of an offended female deity;
and yet, strange contradiction! they were revered as prophets or
diviners, and even acquired wealth by their predictions, &c. (See
_Universal History_, xx. p. 15., ed. 8vo.)

The curse still hangs over the descendants of the Scythians. Reineggo
found the "female disease" among the Nogay Tatars, who call persons so
afflicted "Choss." In 1797-8, Count Potocki saw one of them. The Turks
apply the same term to men wanting a beard. (See Klaproth's _Georgia and
Caucasus_, p. 160., ed. 4to.) From the Turkish use of the word "choss,"
we may infer that Enareans existed in the cradle of their race, and that
the meaning only had suffered a slight modification on their descent
from the Altai. De Pauw, in his _Recherches sur les Americains_, without
quoting any authority, says there are men in Mogulistan, who dress as
women, but are obliged to wear a man's turban.

It must be interesting to the ethnologist to find this curse extending
into the New World, and actually now existing amongst Dr. Latham's
American _Mongolidae_. It would be doubly interesting could we trace its
course from ancient Scythia to the Atlantic coast. In this attempt,
however, we have not been successful, a few isolated facts only
presenting themselves as probably descending from the same source. The
relations of travellers in Eastern Asia offer nothing of the sort among
the Tungusi, Yakuti, &c. The two Mahometans (A.D. 833, thereabout),
speaking of Chinese depravity, assert that it is somehow connected with
the worship of their idols, &c. (Harris' _Collection_, p. 443. ed. fol.)
Sauer mentions boys dressed as females, and perfor