_The only production of the human body which appears to be useful in a
commercial view, is the_ hair.
Human hair, for the purpose of being made into wigs, and ornamental
head-dresses, is imported into this country from the Continent, and chiefly
from Germany. We also import hair from China, but the latter is generally
of very dark colour. On the Continent this article is almost wholly
collected by pedlars, who travel through the different countries, and carry
trinkets and other articles for sale, and to exchange for it.
When, some years ago, long hair was much more fashionable than it is at
present, great numbers of young women in Germany suffered their hair to
grow, and had it cut, from time to time, as a source of emolument. The
notion that long hair is frequently cut from the heads of persons after
they are dead is totally unfounded, since the uncertainty of such supply
would alone render it impracticable. The hair that is used for men's wigs
is almost wholly children's hair, no other being in general considered
sufficiently fine for this purpose.
The value of hair is from five to twelve shillings per ounce, according to
the quality, length, or colour. Before it can be used it is well rubbed
with dry sand, and afterwards boiled, to clean it. Such as is intended for
wigs, if it do not curl naturally, is twisted round small earthenware
cylinders, put into a vessel with sand, and baked in an oven, until it
acquire this property. The most scarce and valuable kind of hair is that of
flaxen colour.
So great was formerly the demand for long hair, and so extravagant the
price for which it was frequently sold, that a mode was invented of
stretching it to nearly double its original length. This was effected by
fastening the ends of the hair to the opposite sides of a vessel, placing a
heavy weight across the middle, and applying heat underneath. As the heat
softened the hair, the weight pressed it down, and extended it. But this
project was found not to answer, as the hair lost all its quality, and
could never be used but when mixed with other hair, and even then the fraud
was discoverable by the stretched hair gradually shrinking nearly to its
original length.
In lawyers' and judges' wigs horse-hair and goats'-hair are frequently
used, to give stiffness and form to the different parts.
16. _APES, BABOONS, and MONKEYS_ (Simia), _are all animals of hot
climates, none of them except the Barbury ape_ (Simia inuus) _being ever
found wild in Europe. They are distinguished by having four front teeth
in each jaw, and all their feet formed like hands_.
_Linnæus, although he has arranged these animals under one tribe, has
characterised the apes by their entire want of tails; the_ baboons _by
having short tails; and the_ monkeys _by having long ones. The tails of
some of the monkeys, particularly those of South America, are so formed,
that the animals are able to coil them round any object so firmly as to
afford them a support in, apparently, the most perilous situations.
Several of the monkeys have pouches within their cheeks, in which they
collect their food previously to its being swallowed._
The chief, perhaps the only, use to which these animals are applied, is as
food. The _pigmy apes_ are caught by the Arabs, and fattened for this
purpose, as we would fatten sheep. Whilst Dampier was on the coast of
America he frequently partook of this kind of food; and states that he
never ate any thing more delicious. The native American tribes eat the
flesh of almost all kinds of monkeys, preferring that, however, of the
_four-fingered species_ to any other. Oexmelin informs us that, while he
was at Cape Gracias a Dios, in New Spain, the hunters regularly brought
home, in the evening, such monkeys as they had killed in the course of the
day; and that their flesh somewhat resembled that of a hare, and was of
peculiarly sweet flavour. He observes, that he and his companions lived on
these animals all the time they remained there.
Desmarchias, in his account of Cayenne, says that the flesh of the _howling
monkeys_, which are peculiarly numerous in the woods of that county, is a
white and very palatable food, not indeed so fat, but in general as good,
as mutton. Both the negroes and the colonists of Surinam occasionally
subsist on monkeys. Yet, however delicate this kind of food may be, it is
extremely repugnant to the feelings of an European to partake of what, when
skinned, has so much the form and general appearance of a human being as
these animals.
The woods of nearly all hot climates abound in monkeys, the species of
which are extremely numerous. They feed almost wholly on fruit, grain,
roots, and other vegetable productions. It would be inconsistent with the
plan of the present work to enter into any detail relative to their habits
of life. We can only say, generally, that few animals are known to be more
active, mischievous, and enterprising than these. They usually live in
immense troops, and commit great depredations in cultivated grounds near
the forests where they reside; some of them continuing on watch, to give
alarm in case of danger, whilst others are engaged in pilfering and
carrying off the plunder to their habitations.
17. _The BATS_ (Vespertilio) _constitute a very singular tribe of
quadrupeds, which have the toes of their fore-feet extremely long, and
connected together by a very thin and dark-coloured membrane, that
extends round the hinder part of their body, and serves the place of
wings, in enabling them to flit along the air in pursuit of food_.
_There are near thirty ascertained species of bats, six of which are
occasionally found in England. Some of them are smaller than a mouse, but
others are so large that their extended membranes measure betwixt three
and four feet in width. The latter are found only in torrid climates._
As all the European bats feed wholly on insects, which they catch during
their flight, there can be no doubt but, in this respect, they are
extremely serviceable to mankind. They devour myriads of night-flying
moths, the caterpillars of which would otherwise prove injurious to our
gardens, orchards, and fields.
The larger kinds, such as the _vampyre_ and _spectre bats_, the former of
which are found in incredible numbers in the islands of the eastern seas,
and the latter on the continent of South America, are not unfrequently used
as food. At a particular season of the year, they become fat; and though,
whilst alive, their smell is excessively rank and unpleasant, they are then
said to be delicious eating, and, in flavour, somewhat to resemble rabbits.
The inhabitants of New Caledonia weave their _hair_ into various ornamental
articles, and plait it, with the stalks and leaves of a kind of grass, into
tassels for their clubs.