[34] Stuhlmann, Mit Emin Pascha ins Herz von Afrika, p. 451. For other instances of uncleanliness in savages see Crawfurd, History of the Indian Archipelago, i. 39; St. John, Life in the Forests of the Far East, i. 147 (some of the Land Dyaks); Andersson, Lake Ngami, pp. 50 (Herero), 470 (Bechuanas).
The prevalence of cleanly or dirty habits among a certain people may depend on a variety of circumstances: the occupations of life, sufficiency or want of water, climatic conditions, industry or laziness, wealth or poverty, religious or superstitious beliefs. Castrén observes that filthiness is a characteristic of fishing peoples; among the Ostyaks only those who live by fishing are conspicuous for their uncleanliness, whereas the nomads and owners of reindeer are not.[35] It has been observed that the inland negro is clean when he dwells in the neighbourhood of rivers.[36] In West Australia those tribes only which live by large rivers or near the sea are said to have an idea of cleanliness.[37] Concerning the filthy habits of the Kukis and other hill peoples in India, Major Butler remarks that they may probably be accounted for by the scarcity of water in the neighbourhood of the villages, as also by the coldness of the climate.[38] Dr. Kane believes that the indifference of many Eskimo to dirt or filth is largely due to the extreme cold, which by rapid freezing resists putrefaction and thus prevents the household, with its numerous dogs, from being intolerable.[39] Their well-known habit of washing themselves with freshly passed urine arises partly from scarcity of water and the difficulty of heating it, but partly also from the fact that the ammonia of the urine is an excellent substitute for soap in removing the grease with which the skin necessarily becomes soiled.[40] A cold climate, moreover, leads to uncleanliness because it makes garments necessary;[41] and among some savages the practice of greasing their bodies to protect the skin from the effects of a parching air produces a similar result.[42] Lord Kames maintains that the greatest promoter of cleanliness is industry, whereas its greatest antagonist is indolence. In Holland, he observes, the people were cleaner than all their neighbours because they were more industrious, at a time when in England industry was as great a stranger as cleanliness.[43] Kolben says that the general laziness of the Hottentots accounts for the fact that “they are in the matter of diet the filthiest people in the world.”[44] Of the Siberian Burats Georgi writes that “from their laziness they are as dirty as swine”;[45] and the Kamchadales are described as a “dirty, lazy race.”[46] Poverty, also, is for obvious reasons a cause of uncleanliness;[47] “a starving vulture neglects to polish his feathers, and a famished dog has a ragged coat.”[48] Very commonly cleanliness is a class distinction.[49] Thus among the Point Barrow Eskimo the poorer people are often careless about their clothes and persons, whereas most of the wealthier individuals appear to take pride in being well clad, and, except when actually engaged in some dirty work, always have their faces and hands scrupulously clean and their hair neatly combed.[50] Dr. Schweinfurth maintains that domestic cleanliness and care in the preparation of food are everywhere signs of a higher grade of external culture and answer to a certain degree of intellectual superiority.[51] But already Lord Kames pointed out the fact indicated above, that “cleanness is remarkable in several nations which have made little progress in the arts of life.”[52]
[35] Castrén, Nordiska resor och forskningar, i. 319 sq.
[36] Bastian, Der Mensch in der Geschichte, iii. 75. Mr. Torday, who speaks from extensive experience, tells me the same.
[37] Chauncy, quoted by Brough Smyth, op. cit. ii. 284.
[38] Butler, Travels in Assam, p. 98 sq. Cf. Stewart, in Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, xxiv. 616.
[39] Kane, Arctic Explorations, ii. 116.
[40] Murdoch, ‘Ethnol. Results of the Point Barrow Expedition,’ in Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. ix. 421. Dall, op. cit. p. 20.
[41] Cf. von Humboldt, op. cit. iii. 237.
[42] Burchell, op. cit. ii. 553 (Bachapins of Litakun).