Among themselves this is never done even between husband
and wife. There is no Fuegian word for modesty, perhaps because
the feeling is universal among them." The women wear a minute
triangular garment of skin suspended between the thighs and never
removed, being merely raised during conjugal relations. (Hyades
and Deniker, _Mission Scientifique du Cap Horn_, vol. vii, pp.
239, 307, and 347.)
Among the Crow Indians of Montana, writes Dr. Holder, who has
lived with them for several years, "a sense of modesty forbids
the attendance upon the female in labor of any male, white man or
Indian, physician or layman. This antipathy to receiving
assistance at the hands of the physician is overcome as the
tribes progress toward civilization, and it is especially
noticeable that half-breeds almost constantly seek the
physician's aid." Dr. Holder mentions the case of a young woman
who, although brought near the verge of death in a very difficult
first confinement, repeatedly refused to allow him to examine
her; at last she consented; "her modest preparation was to take
bits of quilt and cover thighs and lips of vulva, leaving only
the aperture exposed.... Their modesty would not be so striking
were it not that, almost to a woman, the females of this tribe
are prostitutes, and for a consideration will admit the
connection of any man.
Pages:
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