Oriental Women Part 19

No extraordinary claims can be made for the beauty of the Hottentot women. They have the knotty hair that characterizes the negro races, and the flat noses, thick lips, and prominent cheekbones. While their faces have no especial beauty, their figures, when maidens, are regular, plump and attractive; but after the first years of womanhood are past, the roundness of youth yields to the wrinkles of age, and all attractiveness disappears, the woman either becoming withered and haggard, or manifesting that peculiar development said to be so much admired among the Hottentots, known to science as steatopyga. The famous "Hottentot Venus" furnishes an example of this type of _beauty_. The back is given a most remarkable contour by the enormous growth of fat about the hips, which, though hard and firm, shakes like jelly when our Venus walks.

This extraordinary development has to the Hottentot lady not only an aesthetic but also a utilitarian value, in case she cares to support her infant upon it.

The less cultured a people, the greater the place given by it to ornament. Among many uncivilized peoples the men as well as the women exhibit a fondness for decoration; but ornamentation is preeminently the weakness of women. Although the savage lady regards clothing as altogether an unnecessary burden, she must have her ornaments. One of the methods of ornamentation is that of tattooing the body. Among some tribes almost the whole body is covered with more or less artistic designs, while others mark only parts of the body, as by rings around the arms, or, as among the aboriginal New Zealand women, by puncture of the lips. The use of sh.e.l.ls, metal rings, bands, beads, feathers, mats, and so on _ad infinitum_, is one of the marks of savagery.

A traveller has given the following description of a Kaffir's marriage ceremony witnessed by him. The occasion was the marriage of a Kaffir chief to his fourteenth wife, "a fat good-natured girl--obesity is at a premium among African tribes--wrapped round and round with black glazed calico, and decked from head to foot with flowers, beads, and feathers.

Once within the kraal, the ladies formed two lines, with the bride in the centre, and struck up a lively air; whereupon the whole body of armed Kaffirs rushed from all parts of the kraal, beating their s.h.i.+elds and uttering demonic yells, as they charged headlong at the smiling girls, who joined with the stalwart warriors in cutting capers, and singing l.u.s.tily, until the whole kraal was one confused ma.s.s of demons, roaring out hoa.r.s.e war songs and shrill love ditties. After an hour dancing ceased and _joila_ (Kaffir beer) was served around, while the lovely bride stood in the midst of the ring alone, stared at by all and staring in turn at all, until she brought her eyes to bear upon her admiring lord. When advancing leisurely, she danced before him amid the shouts of the bystanders, singing at the top of her voice and brandis.h.i.+ng a huge _carving-knife_, with which she sc.r.a.ped big drops of perspiration from her heated head, produced by the violent exercise she was performing."

Among African tribes, generally, the value of a woman is rated in terms of the cow. While in India the cow is more sacred than the woman, in Africa, a woman sometimes brings several cows in a trade. When a man wishes a wife there is usually little trouble in obtaining her, either by purchase, theft, or in some rather more sentimental manner. Among some tribes female go-betweens are made use of, while genuine courts.h.i.+p prevails among other tribes. The courts.h.i.+p, however, is seldom of long duration.

The matter of marriage is more completely guarded among the tribes of Africa and the Indo-Pacific than we might expect of the people of their grade of culture. While tribes vary much in marriage customs, purity of life is, as a rule, rigidly expected of married women, and most women marry at an early age. Lewdness, however, is not generally regarded as so great a crime as marital infidelity, which is often punished with death. Betrothals are looked upon as much more sacred and binding than they are among more cultivated peoples.

In Tahiti, so careful have been the natives in this matter of betrothal, that the betrothed young lady was compelled to live upon a platform of considerable elevation, built in her father's house. The parents or some members of the family attended to her wants here, night and day, and she never left her high abode without permission of her parents and accompanied by them.

In the Yomba country courts.h.i.+p is carried on usually through female rather than male relatives, and either s.e.x may make the first advances toward a minor. Among all uncivilized peoples, as indeed among many that are advanced in civilization, the early marriage is one of the most important elements in the backward condition of the people, if not indeed the most serious cause of deterioration. Women are forced into the arduous duties of motherhood at an age when they are neither physically nor in any other sense prepared for such an obligation.

Children born of immature mothers can scarcely expect to be robust either in body or mind.

The Kroomen, one of the native tribes of Liberia, hold marriage to be the highest ambition of life. They will marry as many wives as they can pay for, often leaving their homes in search of means whereby they may acc.u.mulate wealth enough to buy another wife. Enjoying for a few months the new relation, the ambitious husband goes off to seek again his fortune, returns, buys another companion, the marriage is again celebrated, and so the number of women who perform the drudgeries of life increases. At about middle life, usually, the Krooman has acc.u.mulated a sufficient fortune in the form of wives to enable him to retire from active labor. He now settles down to live upon the labor of his wives, who willingly support him. He is now known as a "big man,"

and enjoys not only the ease, but also the reputation and honor of one who has come into possession of a well-earned retirement. Another characteristic which marks woman's career among the lower races is the fact of her early and rapid physical deterioration after marriage. This is true not only of the women of Polynesia, but of the African tribes, with which they have much in common. At the age when European and American women are at the prime of their vigor and physical beauty, these women have not only seen their best days, but are broken, unsightly, and withered.

This deterioration is chiefly due to two causes; one is the uniform early marriages among these races, and the other is the hard life which is early thrust upon the woman. For she not only becomes the childbearer, but the beast of burden, the farmer, too, it may be, and the mechanic and the "general utility man."

It is true, especially where polygamy prevails, that there is a division of labor, but the labor is divided among the women; the men do only the lighter work. The several wives of the household take their servitude as a matter of course, and usually, especially in Kaffir land, they are so brought up that they regard a husband as degraded and effeminate if he takes any part in the ordinary labors of domestic life. The women are, generally, quite reconciled also to the polygamous relation, because a husband is regarded as possessing dignity and respectability in proportion as he is much or little married.

The less developed a race is, the less specialized is woman's sphere.

Among the barbarous and savage peoples woman is the "maid of all work."

She is weaver, potter, basketmaker, cook, agriculturist, water bearer, beast of burden, everything. Men hunt and fish, eat and sleep. In general, it may be said, that among the barbarous races there is a greater relative disparity between the size and attractiveness of men and women. This is doubtless to be accounted for by the fact that very early the female is set to hard tasks of menial service and her body is accordingly abused and stunted.

While the physical and social status of woman is one of acknowledged inferiority, there are not wanting among the African tribes instances in which woman exerts no small influence and exhibits no little power. This we have noted in mentioning the tribes dominated by warlike women. It is more particularly true of her influence within the precints of her domestic life, as was seen in the case of the pigmy women of the Andamese Islands. Mothers, and more especially mothers-in-law, exert noteworthy power, but this is always by virtue of station rather than of any inherent respect due to the s.e.x itself. There are isolated examples of a more active power exerted by woman.

As a rule, women of the inferior races have no part in the government of their tribes. There are some exceptions, however. In the Sandwich Islands, as is well-known, the hereditary right of rule might fall to a woman as well as to a man, and there have been, in these islands, a number of queens. Our own country took some part, as will be readily remembered, in deposing the last of them from her throne.

Every student of what has come to be called "woman's sphere,"

especially among the uncultivated races, must be led to the conclusion that the condition of the female s.e.x, the sphere of her activity and influence in any race, is one of the very best indexes of the civilization of that people. The view of Havelock Ellis, in his _Man and Woman_, is that it is the latter who is leading in the evolution of the race, in the sense not only that the traits that more distinctively belong to her are those that characterize the advance of society, but that she registers more accurately the advances. "What is civilization?"

asked Emerson; and answers, "The power of good women."

Among the deplorable traits of women of uncivilized races is that of infanticide. Among some of the Pacific islanders and in some parts of Africa, the regular and systematic sacrifice of children is among the most remarkable and cruel features of the social life of the people.

This is more particularly true of female infants.

War plays a very large part in the life of uncivilized races, and the presence of women is a source of weakness rather than strength, since usually they are not bearers of arms, and are among the most envied prizes for which war is waged.

Ellis, in his _Polynesian Researches_, draws this gloomy picture of unnatural motherhood among peoples of the Pacific islands: "In Tahiti, human victims were frequently immolated. Yet the amount of all these and other murders did not equal that of infanticide alone. No sense of irresolution or horror appeared to exist in the bosoms of those parents, who deliberately resolved on the deed before the child was born. They often visited the dwellings of the foreigners, and spoke with perfect complacency of their cruel purpose. On these occasions the missionaries employed every inducement to dissuade them from executing their intention, warning them in the name of the living G.o.d, urging them by every consideration of maternal tenderness, and always offering to provide the little stranger with a home, and the means of education. The only answer they generally received was, that it was the custom of the country; and the only result of their efforts was the distressing conviction of the inefficacy of their humane endeavors. The murderous parents often came to their houses almost before their hands were cleansed from their children's blood, and spoke of the deed with worse than brutal insensibility, or with vaunting satisfaction at the triumph of their customs over the persuasions of their teachers." It is thought that not less than two-thirds of all the children born were murdered by their own parents.

"The first three infants," says Ellis, "were frequently killed; and in the event of twins being born, both were rarely permitted to live. In the largest families, more than two or three children were seldom spared, while the numbers that were killed were incredible. The very circ.u.mstance of their destroying, instead of nursing, their offspring rendered their offspring more numerous than it would otherwise have been. We have been acquainted with a number of parents, who, according to their own confessions, or the united testimony of their friends and neighbors, had inhumanly consigned to an untimely grave, four, or six, or eight, or ten children, and some even a greater number."

But changes have taken place since the writing of these lines; it seems certain that a generation ago nearly if not quite two-thirds of the children were slain by their mothers, and few mothers were guiltless of the blood of their own offspring. The explanation of the prevalence of this species of ma.s.sacre is readily discernible in the following paragraph from Ellis's _Researches_: "During the whole of their lives the females were subject to the most abasing degradation; and their s.e.x was often, at their birth, the cause of their destruction. If the purpose of the unnatural parents had not been fully matured before, the circ.u.mstance of its being a female child was often sufficient to fix their determination on its death. Whenever we have asked them what could induce them to make a distinction so invidious, they have generally answered,--that the fisheries, the service of the temple, and especially war, were the only purposes for which they thought it desirable to rear children; that in these pursuits women were comparatively useless; and therefore female children were frequently not suffered to live. Facts fully confirm these statements."

Dense superst.i.tion, too, has sometimes played a part in this murder of children. In Central Africa, for example, it is held with religious scrupulosity that twin children should never be allowed to live. When children are born with a deformity, they are despatched as a matter of course. And yet, notwithstanding all these horrors, the instinct, even of the most debased mothers, is toward the love and preservation of their offspring. From the earliest days, this care for the infant, the helpless, and the weak has been the most powerful counterpoise to abnormal self-seeking. These two characteristics, self-giving and self-seeking, are among the most potent factors in the development of all the races of mankind.

The Filipino woman has lately had for us fresh interest. Indeed, the women of the Philippine Islands are among the most interesting in the world. In the mountains of Luzon and in the other out-of-the-way places are the negritos, or little negroes, of whom we have written in an earlier portion of this chapter. These little people are shoved away into the mountain regions, where the resources of life are as meagre as they can be if existence is to endure. In the lower parts of the archipelago, which are more accessible to the coast, will be found the descendants of an old Malayo-Polynesian race; these are characterized by their primitive industrial life. A later immigration of the same stock brought people to the island who have developed alphabets, metallurgic arts carried on by the men, and weaving and needlework done by the women. Closely following these, and because there were opportunities for commerce, came the more cultivated races of Eastern Asia, Chinese, j.a.panese, Siamese, and even Hindoos, to mingle their blood with these more primitive stocks. In the twelfth century of our era, Mohammedanized Malays took possession of the southern part of the archipelago. These people are called Moros, or Moors. Leaving out the negritos, who are only a little mixed with the other races, the other peoples we have mentioned have mingled their blood with the modern population, the Spanish and Portuguese, who have come in since the sixteenth century.

The commingling of blood has been favorable to the modern Filipinos, and many regard their women as worthy of being admired for their grace and beauty. Notwithstanding their great variety of racial stocks, the women of Manila have a certain common physiognomy, the Malay type being the strongest element in their composite face. Features that mark the yellow races are also quite prominent in many of the Filipino women.

As in other races of the same grade of culture, the marriage tie is a part of the social system. Clan relations.h.i.+p, by whatever name it may be called, governs the selection of a spouse. The bond has been a very loose one in the islands, and it has not been an uncommon thing for men and women to break up their relations.h.i.+ps unceremoniously and form new ones. Among a people composed of so many elements, wide differences may be expected in the matter of marriage. The Igorrotes, or wild inhabitants of Luzon, though primitive in development, are monogamous.

The clan system is broken down and a young man is allowed to take the woman of his choice with little ceremony, and they become man and wife.

Many astonis.h.i.+ng customs are, of course, found among these people. For example, Alfred Marche calls attention to a form of voluntary slavery.

It is that of a young man who wants to marry. In many places, he is bound to work for two or three years as a simple domestic in the house of the father of his fiancee. During this time he is fed, but never takes his place at the same table with the young girl. He is allowed to walk with her and to sleep under the same roof, but he may not eat with her.

When the young man has pa.s.sed this stage, he must, before the ceremony of marriage, build a house and make certain indispensable purchases. He must also pay all the expenses of the marriage. The affair does not always terminate as regularly as one could wish. The father sometimes seeks a quarrel with his future son-in-law at the moment when the ceremony is about to take place, and admits a new aspirant for his daughter's hand. The newcomer undertakes to work for him without any scruples. The house, which is of little value, is all that remains to the late fiance as a consolation.

De Morgan, who travelled in the Philippine Islands for the Spanish government and published his account, in the City of Mexico, in 1609, gives an account of the native women three hundred years ago.

The women of Luzon are described as wearing sleeves of all colors which they call _baros_. White cotton stuffs were wrapped or folded from the waist downward to the feet, and over these sometimes was a thin cloak folded gracefully. The people of the highest rank subst.i.tuted silk or fine native fabrics for the cotton, and added gold chains, bracelets, and earrings, and rings on their fingers. Their hair, which is exceedingly black, was tied gracefully in a knot on the back of their head. Many of these characteristics noted by De Morgan may still be seen among the women of the islands. The closer contact of the Philippine Islands with the mainland and more particularly with western commerce and civilization is destined to work many and possibly rapid changes even in the customs and ideals of the women whose native conservatism has held them for many centuries very much in the same groove of life and daily routine.

The women of Luzon have always been cleanly and elegant in their persons, and they are attractive and graceful. Much time is spent on their hair, which is frequently washed and anointed with the oil of sesame prepared with musk. They spend much time on their teeth, and formerly began at a tender age to file them into the shape demanded by the customs of the country. They also dyed their teeth black. Like the Moorish women, the Filipinos are fond of the bath; they frequent the rivers and creeks and bathe throughout the entire year, the genial climate allowing such pastime.

As in other countries below the grade of civilization, the industrial employments of the Philippines are largely for the women. To them is the task of spinning and weaving the exceptionally delicate fabric of the archipelago into the finest cloth. They also are the food purveyors, a.s.sisting in gathering food material, pounding it in their simple mills and serving it. In their cuisine are such vegetables as sweet potatoes, beans, plantains, guavas, pineapples, and oranges. The women rear fowls and domestic animals, and take upon themselves the entire care of the family and household.

While the women of all countries have always been the natural and most persistent conservers of ancient ideals and racial customs, yet it may be predicted that the throwing of the Filipino tribes into contact with New World politics, trade, and customs will, at length, bring about marked social changes. These must eventually give to the women of the Filipinos a wider outlook upon life and a new power to carry its burdens.