They inquired also whether English ladies did not suffer in their health from the great and sudden changes, from covering to exposure, of many parts of the body between morning and evening dresses; and also whether many of them did not become diseased or deformed by the violence with which they appeared to squeeze their waists. Wilkins, the servant, it seems, had chanced to bring with him a lady’s almanac, containing plates of “female costume,” which excited great interest, wonder, and diversion among the Southlanders. Some imagined at first, among other mistakes, that the ladies were represented as taking precautions against drowning, by fastening, as the Southlanders sometimes do, large bladders to their arms.
They expressed hardly less wonder on learning that English ladies are accustomed, “like the savages,” to wear feathers, necklaces, and other ornaments, and even to make incisions in their flesh for the purpose of inserting them. They asked whether, in addition to ear-rings, they wore nose-rings, and the ornament so general among the New-Hollanders, called humorously by the English sailors the “spritsail-yard;” viz. the leg-bone of a bird thrust through the middle cartilage of the nose.
The travellers observed, in reply, that the Southlanders, especially the females, seemed to have no scruples on the subject of ornamental dress and furniture, as they had much that was both handsome and costly. “That is true,” said one of the party; “and though there are many differences of opinion on the subject, and some indulge in a degree of attention to ornament which is regarded by others as excessive, the total condemnation of all regard to decoration is by no means common. The church, indeed, of the Kernhuters—of which I learn from you there is a considerable and valuable remnant in Europe—have adopted, for nearly two centuries, some very strict regulations on this head; among others, they make it a point of discipline to use no dyes. Their shoes and boots are brown, of the natural colour of the leather; their coats grey, being made of a mixture of black wool and white, as it comes from the sheep; and their hats of the natural colour of the opossum and kangaroo: but these are exceptions. The point agreed on among us, and in which our difference from you gave rise to the wonder you heard expressed, is this,—that it is barbarian to wear anything for the sake of ornament, and which answers no purpose but that of decoration. Of this description are feathers, which were worn by our ancestors of both sexes, but which I understand from you are now confined to women, and to military men when in uniform. So, also, are necklaces, rings, and, above all, ear-rings. It strikes us as peculiarly barbarian to bore holes in the flesh for the purpose of sticking in ornaments. It may be a prejudice, but it is at least an ancient one; for the Greeks, though I believe their women wore ear-rings,—and it is to be observed that they regarded women as a very inferior order of beings, and rather as toys, or as domestic drudges, than as civilized and rational companions,—considered ear-rings worn by men as a decisive mark of barbarism. You may find, in Xenophon’s Anabasis, one of the captains of companies, who had given some cowardly advice, reproached as uttering sentiments unworthy of a Greek; on which some one exclaimed ‘He is no Greek! his ears are bored:’ and this being ascertained by inspection, he was on this evidence at once pronounced a barbarian, and as such reduced to the ranks.
“You have observed,” continued he, “among us handsome and costly gold brooches and buckles, buttons made of jewels, embroidered garments, inlaid tables, and other such ornamental articles; but you will see no article that is merely an ornament. A gold brooch or button served as a fastening, not better indeed, but as well, as an iron or brass one. Its beauty is superfluous, but it is not itself superfluous, and destitute of all ostensible use. So, also, a silver goblet serves to drink out of, and an embroidered gown to cover one, no less than plain ones. The robes, caps, and thrones of our higher magistrates are, as you have seen, in some instances very highly decorated; but they have an ostensible use, as coverings and seats. We have no necklaces, plumes, or rings; and have indeed carried so far this distinction, which probably to you seems fanciful, that we have even laid aside the ancient usage of the wedding ring, and, as you must have observed, mark the distinction between the married and single by the dress. By the bye,” he added, “the ring, which you speak of as having a use in distinguishing a married woman, is confined, I perceive, to the wife; a married man not having, as among us, any distinctive mark.”
Mr. Sibthorpe here remarked, that though any practice to which we are not accustomed does usually appear to us fanciful, yet it occurred to him—what had never struck him before—that no mere ornament is commonly worn by men of the present age in Europe; a few, indeed, wear rings, but not the majority; nor is it any requisition of fashion. Stars, ribbons, crowns, &c. are worn by men as marks of certain rank or office; but the feathers, chains, shoulder-knots, and ruffles, which our forefathers wore as a part of fashionable dress, are obsolete. Man is now so far conformed to the ancient definition as to be “a biped without feathers;” women, on the contrary, are so far, according to the Southlanders, in the rear of advancing civilization as still to wear ornaments, like the savages.
He remarked also another point of coincidence between European women on the one side, and European men and the Southlanders of both sexes on the other; the latter, he observed, were always dressed alike on both sides, so that if one imagined one of them split into halves, the two would match, like a pair of gloves; among European ladies, on the contrary, most of the many great variations of fashion agree in making some difference between the two sides; there is usually an obliquity in the head-gear, or a bow, a feather, or a bunch of flowers, stuck on one side, without a corresponding one on the other.
CHAPTER VII.
Forms of Government.—Senatorial Regulations.—Speakers.—Peculiar Debate.—Fundamental Laws.—Unwise Legislators.—Timely Improvements.—Legislative Problem.—Legislative Expedient.—Error in Government.—Division of Laws.—Repeal of Fundamental Laws.—Guard against Precipitancy.—Laws of Treason.—Mature Deliberation.—National Will.
All the states, which, as has been mentioned above, are eleven in number, differ more or less from each other in their form of government, but are alike in all the most important and fundamental principles adopted; several of which are strangely at variance with everything that is to be found in the northern hemisphere. Seven out of the eleven states are denominated kingdoms: but of these, four only are under an hereditary royalty; the other three being, as far as the travellers could ascertain, rather of the character of republics than of strictly regal governments; but retaining the title of King to denote the chief magistrate for the time being, somewhat corresponding to the Athenian archon, Roman consul, or American president. There are four other states also which are, in name as well as in substance, republics. But these differences are greater in appearance than in reality; the kingdoms which are the most strictly so called, being by no means under an unlimited monarchy.
Many of the particulars respecting the constitutions and laws of the several states the travellers were of course, during their short stay, unable to collect, except very slightly and imperfectly. From those which they did collect, and ascertain with sufficient certainty, we shall select such as are likely to be the most interesting, from their dissimilarity to European institutions.