" (A.B. Holder, _American Journal of
Obstetrics_, vol. xxv, No. 6, 1892.)
"In every North American tribe, from the most northern to the
most southern, the skirt of the woman is longer than that of the
men. In Esquimau land the _parka_ of deerskin and sealskin
reaches to the knees. Throughout Central North America the
buckskin dress of the women reached quite to the ankles. The
West-Coast women, from Oregon to the Gulf of California, wore a
petticoat of shredded bark, of plaited grass, or of strings, upon
which were strung hundreds of seeds. Even in the most tropical
areas the rule was universal, as anyone can see from the codices
or in pictures of the natives." (Otis T. Mason, _Woman's Share in
Primitive Culture_, p. 237.)
Describing the loin-cloth worn by Nicobarese men, Man says: "From
the clumsy mode in which this garment is worn by the Shom
Pen--necessitating frequent readjustment of the folds--one is led
to infer that its use is not _de rigueur_, but reserved for
special occasions, as when receiving or visiting strangers."
(E.H. Man, _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1886, p.
442.)
The semi-nude natives of the island of Nias in the Indian Ocean
are "modest by nature," paying no attention to their own nudity
or that of others, and much scandalized by any attempt to go
beyond the limits ordained by custom.
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