' Many of our
peasant women have neither the same grace nor the same delicate
skin as some natives of Cassai or Songha. As to color, I have
seen on the African continent creatures of pale gold or even red
copper whose fine and satiny skin rivals the most delicate white
skins; one may, indeed, find beauties among women of the darkest
ebony." He adds that, on the whole, there is no comparison with
white women, and that the negress soon becomes hideous.
The very numerous quotations from travelers concerning the women
of all lands quoted by Ploss and Bartels (_Das Weib_, seventh
edition, bd. i, pp. 88-106) amply suffice to show how frequently
some degree of beauty is found even among the lowest human races.
Cf., also, Mantegazza's survey of the women of different races
from this point of view, _Fisiologia della Donna_, Cap. IV.
The fact that the modern European, whose culture may be supposed to have
made him especially sensitive to aesthetic beauty, is yet able to find
beauty among even the women of savage races serves to illustrate the
statement already made that, whatever modifying influences may have to be
admitted, beauty is to a large extent an objective matter.
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