Hottentots, Bushmen, and many Bantu tribes of Middle and South Africa.
This consists in the artificial elongation of the small labia. It was
first observed among the Hottentot women, and therefore the elongated
labia were called the "Hottentot apron." Among the Jao, Makonde, and
other East African Bantu tribes, the girls at the ages of seven, eight,
or nine years are instructed by old women about sex intercourse and
their behaviour towards grown-up people. At the same time they are
encouraged to systematically alter the natural shape of the genital
organs by continually pulling at the labia minora and thus unnaturally
lengthening them. Karl Weule has seen such disfigured organs from 7 to 8
centimetres long. According to the assertion of numerous male natives,
the elongated labia assume such dimensions that they hang half-way down
to the knee. The main purpose of this disfiguration seems to be erotic;
it is said to excite the men. The assumption that the labia minora are
naturally exceptionally large among the Hottentots is certainly wrong.
Karl Weule is right when he definitely maintains that his proof of the
artificial elongation of the labia among the East Africans establishes
it as an indubitable fact that the famous Hottentot apron is also an
artificial product. Le Vaillant established this independently almost
100 years before Weule; but the error dragged on from decade to decade,
chiefly because nobody troubled or had the good fortune to study the
puberty rites as Weule did. It is time at last to give up this erroneous
idea.
Among the Jaos the operation of the boys consists in a combination of
incision with circumcision so that only a tiny piece of the under-part
of the preputium remains. The boy must show courage at the operation.
Screams, if they occur, are drowned by the laughter of the bystanders.
Bleeding is stilled by bark powder. The boys have to lie down for about
twenty days or more, until healing has taken place. As usual,
circumcision is combined with instruction about sex behaviour.
In former times the Jaos are said to have imposed castration as a
punishment on men for misbehaviour with the chief's wife (Weule, pp. 29,
35). Castration still takes place for this reason among other negro
races, especially the Mohammedan Sudanese.
In North America the few Indians still living in a state of nature do
not practise mutilation of the sex organs. In South America circumcision
exists among the linguistically isolated tribes and the neighbouring
Aruake and Karaib tribes of the north-west, also among the tribes on the
Ucayali and the tributaries of the Apure (W. Schmidt, p. 1048). The
Kayapo Indians on the Araguay river cut the frenulum of the penis with a
taquara splinter, and the penis cuff is fastened on to the rolled-up
foreskin (W. Kissenberth, p. 55).
The purpose of circumcision is probably to prolong the sex act, for the
bare glans is less sensitive than the covered one. Friederici says (p.
89) that the black boys congregating on the stations and plantations
frequently discuss these matters amongst themselves; they know that the
glans of the circumcised is much less sensitive than that of the
uncircumcised. Many authors are of the opinion that the abscission or
incision of the foreskin in boys has the purpose of making cohabitation
easier in later years, as this is often made difficult by phimosis
(tightness of the foreskin). Külz (p. 40) found that among the youthful
plantation workers in New Mecklenburg nearly a quarter were afflicted
with phimosis, and often to such a degree that normal sex functioning
was quite impossible. But such a condition does not seem to prevail
among most of the primitive peoples practising circumcision. And,
further, of what use would mutilations be that had nothing to do with
tightness of the foreskin?
The prolonged festivals and elaborate ceremonials which are so often
connected with the circumcision of boys and of girls, or with their
admission to the state of manhood and womanhood (without accompanying
circumcision), are intended to preserve the event in the memory. The
long ceremony is deeply impressed upon the mind, and forms a firm
nucleus round which other memories cluster which otherwise would be lost
in the humdrum of ordinary life. How could the time of entry into
manhood remain without ceremonious festival? This seems all the more
necessary because the growth into manhood is gradual and almost
unnoticeable, and if there were no ceremony, it would pass without
making any impression. It is therefore the intention not only to give
expression to the beginning virility, but above all to the admission
into the league of youth (Schurtz, pp. 95, 96).
VIII
MATURITY AND DECLINE
Among all human races the signs of maturity appear later and less
distinctly in the male than in the female. In Europeans the period of
puberty coincides with the second period of increased bodily growth,
which ceases in the male between the sixteenth and the eighteenth year,
and in the female between the fourteenth and the sixteenth year. The end
of the puberty period may, however, in individual cases, be postponed
for some years. The exact time of the advent of sex maturity, which, on
account of their menstruation, can be fixed much more readily in girls
than in boys, varies not only individually, but racially. The same
applies to the difference in time between the advent of maturity and the
cessation of bodily growth. Sexual maturity, as well as the cessation of
bodily growth, takes place much earlier in Europeans than in some of the
primitive peoples. Among other primitive peoples, however, maturity
occurs comparatively late, and bodily growth ceases shortly after. To
the latter belong certainly some of the peoples living in the tropics.
The opinion still prevails that climate has a considerable influence on
the advent of maturity. Rudolf Martin (1915) remarks: "Races living in
the tropics grow more quickly and mature earlier than the races living
in temperate zones. This is undoubtedly due to the earlier advent of
puberty."
As regards the Japanese, E. Baelz had already in 1891 disputed the
statement that they mature early. He found, however, that the growth of
both sexes ceases in Japan earlier than in Europe; still sex maturity in
the female does not occur earlier. According to the concordant
statements of female teachers of various girls' schools, the Japanese
girls, in fact, reach maturity later than European girls, and half-caste
girls take a medium position.
Since then reliable data about the advent of maturity among non-European
races have seldom been given, but those to hand show that most probably
even among coloured primitive people puberty generally occurs late.
Very important material has been collected by O. Reche in Matupi (New
Pomerania, Melanesia), with the assistance of the Catholic mission of
the place. He found that the rhythm of growth of the Melanesians
corresponds on the whole to that of the Europeans, except that the
growth ceases altogether a few years earlier. Development in height is
finished on the whole in girls at the beginning of the seventeenth year,
and in boys in the eighteenth year. But, as regards the advent of
puberty, Reche's researches led to the surprising result that all Matupi
girls, with the exception of those seventeen years old, had not yet
menstruated. Reche remarks that this strikingly late appearance of
menstruation is also known to the missionaries, because in order to
prevent early marriages they only consent to the marriage of a girl
after the first menstruation has taken place. Reche's experience is in
strong contradiction to the belief formerly taken for granted, for
puberty occurs among these inhabitants of the tropics not only not
earlier, but, on the contrary, later than with the Europeans living in
temperate climates. Of importance is the fact that in the Matupi natives
puberty coincides with the highest point of the curve of growth, namely,
with the end of the development in height. Puberty commences when growth
ceases. It almost seems as if the advent of maturity absorbs all the
strength and hinders further growth. It is quite different with
Europeans in this respect: the beginning of puberty falls with them in
the second period of growth (in boys the twelfth to the sixteenth, in
girls the eleventh to the fourteenth year), and therefore long before
growth ceases altogether.
It would seem that the conditions existing among Europeans are the
primitive state, as with the majority of animals also puberty begins
before the cessation of growth.
Reche reports further that, corresponding to the late puberty, the
secondary sexual characteristics also appear exceptionally late in
Matupi children. This is the chief reason why the boys and girls,
especially as they are small, appear remarkably young even shortly
before maturity, and why their age seems much less than it actually is.
The first beginning of the change from the areola mamma to the budding
breast shows itself among the Matupi girls not before the sixteenth
year; the development of the breast seems to coincide with the first
menstruation. Axillary hair did not appear in sixteen-year-old Matupi
girls, with one exception; and it was scanty in those seventeen years
old, though it is generally copious in adults. There was also no trace
of a beard in seventeen-year-old boys, though it is well developed in
the older men. It must be added that the late differentiation of
secondary sexual characteristics is also noticeable among other coloured
races, as, _e.g._, among the Philippines and other Indonesian races.
Among the Papuans of New Guinea also sex maturity occurs late. As
Richard Neuhaus wrote, according to information given by missionaries
who have lived for a long time among the natives on Tami and among the
Jabim, the first menstruation generally appears in the fifteenth to
sixteenth year. Young males look very undeveloped up to the sixteenth
year. Neuhaus thought this late maturity was the result of bad feeding,
though it does not appear from his other descriptions that the economic
conditions of the Papuans are especially unfavourable.
A. E. Jenks reports of the Igorots on Luzon that boys as well as girls
attain puberty at a late age, generally between fourteen and sixteen
years. The civilised Ilkano people settled among the Igorots definitely
declare that the girls do not menstruate before they have reached the
sixteenth or seventeenth year. A considerable error as regards their age
seems to be excluded with these people, who have lived a long time under
European influence.
Of the Andamanese, a pigmy race, Portman and Molesworth write that
puberty appears in boys and girls round about the fifteenth year. Bodily
growth is finished at eighteen years, and is in any case after maturity
very trivial.
Eugen Fischer makes the following statements about the Bastards in
German South-west Africa: "In one family five out of six daughters
menstruated for the first time at the age of fifteen, one at the age of
sixteen. One Bastard woman had first menstruated at the age of
seventeen, three of her daughters at thirteen, the fourth, who was
anæmic, at seventeen. Another Bastard woman, who herself had her first
menstruation at fifteen, had two daughters from a white man who had
reached puberty at sixteen and seventeen years of age. A girl with
distinct anæmia stated that she had had her first period at sixteen
years, her sister even as late as eighteen," Fischer knows of three
girls that became mature at sixteen, fourteen, and thirteen years. L.
Schultze reports that with the Hottentots the first menstruation
appears, as a rule, between the ages of thirteen and fifteen.
There is, unfortunately, no information to be had about the negroes
with regard to this subject. The puberty rites practised by them give no
clue to the real age at the advent of puberty.
Ales Hrdlicka (pp. 125-129) tried to determine the age of puberty among
Indian girls of the south-west of the United States by their height, as
definite statements of age are not to be had. This method is not without
objection, for it is certain that individuals who have attained puberty
are decidedly taller than persons of the same age who have not reached
maturity. Hrdlicka found that of those examined in the twelfth or
thirteenth year one-third of the Apache girls and as many as
three-quarters of the Pima girls had already menstruated. In the age
class of thirteen to fourteen years four-fifths of the Apache and
nine-tenths of the Pima girls had already menstruated, while of
forty-six older girls only one had not yet attained puberty. The first
signs of breast development were noticed by Hrdlicka in clothed Indian
maidens whose ages he estimated to be from eleven to twelve years. But
it was only between fifteen and seventeen that the girls acquired the
typical womanly form; until then they have, as Hrdlicka says, "a
somewhat male appearance." In youths the beard begins to grow at the
fifteenth or sixteenth year. The climate is moderate in the country of
the Apache and Pima Indians; the days are decidedly hot in the low-lying
regions, but the nights are generally cold in these regions, even in
summer.
In comparison it may be noted that, according to H. P. Bowditch's
investigations in Boston, nearly four-fifths of the white girls born in
America mature between the thirteenth and seventeenth year. Puberty is
reached relatively most often between the ages of fourteen and fifteen,
though over 40 per cent. of 575 girls examined had not yet menstruated
at the completed fifteenth year.
Within one and the same race the conditions of life seem to have a great
influence on the age of puberty and bodily development. Unfavourable
conditions produce a retardation of puberty; favourable conditions
accelerate it. This may be the chief cause why the beginning of puberty
varies individually by several years.
There exists so far no definite explanation of the racial differences in
the age of puberty. Reche says, "It is conceivable that the
characteristically late maturity of a tropical race (like that of the
Melanesians) may gradually have been acquired by the unfavourable
influence of too hot a climate or of continual underfeeding acting on
many generations."
It is remarkable that, in contradistinction to the Melanesians, the
Indians become mature very early, and the same applies most likely to
the Australians. In India, as in Australia, sexual intercourse is begun
at a very youthful age, among the girls often long before the first
menstruation. It is possible that on account of this the age of puberty
is lowered, so that girls who mature late are more easily injured and
perish in greater number than the girls maturing earlier, who are less
injured by the premature sexual intercourse. The male sex may have been
influenced in the same direction through heredity.
Just as physical maturity, so is the cessation of generative power and
bodily decline more marked in women than in men. In Middle and Northern
Europe, procreation generally ceases with women of an age between
forty-five and fifty years. Numerous birth statistics from all countries
of this continent show that birth in women over fifty years old is very
rare. It is not quite clear how the case stands in this respect among
the coloured races. Hrdlicka reports of the North American Indian women
that with them the climacterium occurs apparently at about the same age
as with European women. It must be taken into consideration that
accurate statements of age are wanting, and that the age of Indian women
can easily be greatly overrated. Otherwise it has generally been
reported of coloured women that they age rapidly, and that their
reproductive period is comparatively short. In North-west Brazil the
Indian girls marry as soon as in their tenth to twelfth year, on account
of their rapid development. Early maturity and marriage may be one of
the chief causes of their rapid decline. The Indian women are generally
beyond their prime at the age of twenty. Their straight figure is
frequently covered with a disgusting accumulation of fat, and the
elasticity of movement gives way to indolence. Other women become very
thin after several confinements, their features become sharp and bony,
and among old women one often comes across real hag-like creatures with
half-blind, running eyes (Koch-Grünberg, II., p. 149).
In India the women of the Dravidian as well as of the Mongolian races
age rapidly. Their generative power rarely lasts longer than the
beginning of the forties. Among the pigmies the time of procreation is
said to be equally short (Portman and Molesworth). Spencer and Gillen
say that with the Australian women a rapid bodily decline takes place as
early as the twenty-fifth and at the latest in the thirtieth year, which
cannot be attributed to exceptional privations or harsh treatment. The
Australian women apparently reach the age of fifty years or more only
exceptionally.
Jochelson (pp. 413 _et seq._) writes that the Koryak women age very
rapidly. They cease to bear children at about the age of forty. Other
travellers have made statements about the great age that the Koryaks are
said to attain. Jochelson's thorough-going investigations showed that of
284 persons only thirteen could possibly have been over sixty-five years
old, and among them there was only one really old man.
Schultze (p. 297) mentions two Hottentot women who had given birth at
the age of forty-seven, and another who still had her period at
fifty-five. Among the negresses late births also occur. Unfortunately,
ethnographical literature only rarely gives facts with regard to this
subject.
IX
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THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS, LTD., LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.
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