" (E.T. Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, 1872, p. 66.)
Of the Naga women of Assam it is said: "Of clothing there was not
much to see; but in spite of this I doubt whether we could excel
them in true decency and modesty. Ibn Muhammed Wali had already
remarked in his history of the conquest of Assam (1662-63), that
the Naga women only cover their breasts. They declare that it is
absurd to cover those parts of the body which everyone has been
able to see from their births, but that it is different with the
breasts, which appeared later, and are, therefore, to be covered.
Dalton (_Journal of the Asiatic Society_, Bengal, 41, 1, 84) adds
that in the presence of strangers Naga women simply cross their
arms over their breasts, without caring much what other charms
they may reveal to the observer. As regards some clans of the
naked Nagas, to whom the Banpara belong, this may still hold
good." (K. Klemm, "Peal's Ausflug nach Banpara," _Zeitschrift fuer
Ethnologie_, 1898, Heft 5, p. 334.)
"In Ceylon, a woman always bathes in public streams, but she
never removes all her clothes. She washes under the cloth, bit by
bit, and then slips on the dry, new cloth, and pulls out the wet
one from underneath (much in the same sliding way as servant
girls and young women in England). This is the common custom in
India and the Malay States.
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