Part 4

We can find a very great analogy between them and the Tierra del Fuegans, when Darwin visited them, while with the surveying ships _Adventure_ and _Beagle_, a voyage which took from 1832 to 1836; and, when we read the following extracts from Darwin’s account of the expedition, we can fancy we have before us a vivid picture of the makers of the kitchen middens. “The inhabitants, living chiefly upon shell-fish, are obliged constantly to change their place of residence; but they return at intervals to the same spots, as is evident from the pile of old shells, which must often amount to some tons in weight. These heaps can be distinguished at a long distance by the bright green colour of certain plants which invariably grow on them.... The Fuegian wigwam resembles, in size and dimensions, a haycock. It merely consists of a few broken branches stuck in the ground, and very imperfectly thatched on one side, with a few tufts of grass and rushes. The whole cannot be so much as the work of an hour, and it is only used for a few days.... At a subsequent period, the _Beagle_ anchored for a couple of days under Wollaston Island, which is a short way to the northward. While going on shore, we pulled alongside a canoe with six Fuegians. These were the most abject and miserable creatures I anywhere beheld. On the east coast, the natives, as we have seen, have guanaco cloaks, and, on the west, they possess sealskins. Amongst the central tribes the men generally possess an otter skin, or some small scrap about as large as a pocket handkerchief, which is barely sufficient to cover their backs as low down as their loins. It is laced across the breast by strings, and, according as the wind blows, it is shifted from side to side. But these Fuegians in the canoe were quite naked, and even one full-grown woman was absolutely so. It was raining heavily, and the fresh water, together with the spray, trickled down her body.... These poor wretches were stunted in their growth, their hideous faces bedaubed with white paint, their skins filthy and greasy, their hair entangled, their voices discordant, their gestures violent and without dignity. Viewing such men, one can hardly make oneself believe they are fellow-creatures and inhabitants of the same world.... At night, five or six human beings, naked, and scarcely protected from the wind and rain of this tempestuous climate, sleep on the wet ground, coiled up like animals. Whenever it is low water, they must rise to pick shell-fish from the rocks; and the women, winter and summer, either dive and collect sea eggs, or sit patiently in their canoes, and, with a baited hair line, jerk out small fish. If a seal is killed, or the floating carcase of a putrid whale discovered, it is a feast: such miserable food is assisted by a few tasteless berries, and fungi. Nor are they exempt from famine, and, as a consequence, cannibalism accompanied by parricide.”

This I believe to be as faithful a picture as can be drawn of the makers of the shell mounds.

But in Denmark, although shells formed by far the major part of these middens, yet they ate other fish, the herring, dorse, dab, and eel. Birds also were not despised by them, bones of swallows, the sparrow, stork, capercailzie, ducks, geese, wild swans, and even of the great auk (now extinct) have been found. Then of beasts they ate the stag, roe-deer, wild boar, urus, dog, fox, wolf, marten, otter, lynx, wild cat, hedgehog, bear, and mouse; beside which they lived on the seal, porpoise, and water rat.

Owing to the almost total absence of polished implements--and yet the fact being that portions of one or two have been found--the makers of these kjökkenmöddings, are classed as belonging to the later Palæolithic period.

Of the Bronze and Iron Ages there is no necessity to write, men were emerging from their primæval barbarity--and all the gentle arts, though undeveloped, were nascent. Men who could smelt metals, and mould, and forge them, cannot be considered as utter barbarians, such as were the long-headed men, with their chipped flint implements and weapons.

WILD MEN.

Sometimes a specimen of humanity has got astray in infancy, and has been dragged up somehow in the woods, like Caspar Hauser, and Peter the Wild Boy, and fiction supplies other instances, such as Romulus and Remus, Orson, &c. Some of them were credited with being hairy as are the accompanying wild man and woman, as they are portrayed in John Sluper’s book, where they are thus described:--

“L’HOMME SAUVAGE.

“Combien que Dieu le createur seul sage, A fait user les hommes de raison: Icy voyez un vray homme sauvage, Son corps vela est en toute saison.”

“LA FEMME SAUVAGE.

“Femme sauvage a l’œil humain, non sainte, Ainsi qu’elle est sur le naturel lieu, Au naturel vous est icy depeinte, Comme voyez qu’il appert a votre vue.”

When Cæsar came to Britain for the second time, he found the Britons, although to a great extent civilised, having cavalry and charioteers (so many of the latter, that Cassivelaunus left about 4000 to watch the Romans), and knowing the art of fortification, yet in themselves, only just emerging from utter barbarism--the colouring and shaving of themselves showed that they had vanity, and were making, after their fashion, the most of their personal charms. Cæsar (Book v. 14) writes: “Of all these _tribes_, by far the most civilised are those who inhabit Kent, which district is altogether maritime; nor do they differ much from the Gallic customs. Most of those in the interior do not sow corn, but live on flesh and milk, and are clad in skins. All the Britons, in truth, dye themselves with woad, which produces a bluish colour, and on this account they are of a more frightful aspect in battle. They have flowing hair, and every part of the body shaved, except the head and the upper lip. Ten, and _even_ twelve of them have wives in common between them, and chiefly brothers with brothers, and fathers with sons; but, if there is any offspring, they are considered to be the children of those by whom each virgin was first espoused.”

HAIRY MEN.

If, as we may conjecture from the above, the ancient Briton was “a rugged man, o’ergrown with hair,” his full-dress toilette must have occupied some time. But extreme hairiness in human beings is by no means singular, and very many cases are recorded in medical books. Many of us may remember the Spanish dancer, Julia Pastrana, whose whole body was hairy, and who had a fine beard. She had a child on whom the hair began to grow, like its mother; and, but a few years back, there was a hairy family exhibited in London--their faces being covered with hair, as is the case of the _Puella pilosa_, or Hairy Girl--given by Aldrovandus in his _Monstrorum Historia_.

She was aged twelve years, and came from the Canary Isles, together with her father (aged 40), her brother (20), and her sister (8), all as hairy one as the other. They were brought over by Marius Casalius, and first shown at Bologna, so that this is no doubt a faithful likeness, as Aldrovandus lived and died in that city. He gives other examples, but not so well authenticated as this.

There were two wonderful hairy people at Ava, in Burmah, who are described by two most trustworthy eye-witnesses, John Crawford, in his “Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava”--and in 1855, by Captain Henry Youle, in his “Narrative of the Mission sent by the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava.” They were father and daughter, respectively named Shu-Maon, and Maphoon. The father may strictly be said to have had neither eyelashes, eyebrows, nor beard, because the whole of his face, including the interior and exterior of his ears, were covered with long silky silvery grey hair. His whole body, except his hands and feet, was covered with hair of the same texture and colour as that now described, but generally less abundant; it was most plentiful over the spine and shoulders, where it was five inches long; over the breast, about four inches, and was most scanty on the arms, legs, thighs, and abdomen.

Of the daughter, Captain Youle writes: “The whole of Maphoon’s face was more or less covered with hair. On a part of the cheek, and between the nose and mouth, this was confined to a short down, but over all the rest of the face was a thick silky hair of a brown colour, paleing about the nose and chin, four or five inches long. At the alæ of the nose, under the eye, and on the cheek bone this was very fully developed; but it was in, and on, the ear, that it was most extraordinary. Except the upper tip, no part of the ear was visible. All the rest was filled and veiled with a large mass of silky hair, growing apparently out of every part of the external organ, and hanging a pendant lock to a length of eight or ten inches. The hair over her forehead was brushed so as to blend with the hair of the head, the latter being dressed (as usual with her countrywomen) _à la Chinoise_; it was not so thick as to conceal her forehead.

“The nose, densely covered with hair, as no animal’s is, that I know of, and with long locks curving out, and pendant like the wisps of a fine Skye-terrier’s coat, had a most strange appearance. The beard was pale in colour, and about four inches in length, seemingly very soft and silky.”

Maphoon, when Captain Youle saw her, had two children, one, the eldest, perfectly normal, the other, who was very young, was evidently taking after its mother.

The Aïnos, an aboriginal tribe in the north of Japan, who are looked down upon by the Japanese as dogs, have always been reputed as being covered with hair. Mr. W. Martin Wood read a paper before the Ethnological Society of London[26] respecting them, and he said, “Esau himself could not have been a more hairy man than are these Aïnos. The hair forms an enormous bush, and it is thick and matted. Their beards are very thick and long, and the greater part of their face is covered with hair which is generally dark in colour; they have prominent foreheads, and mild, dark eyes, which somewhat relieve the savage aspect of their visage. Their hands and arms, and, indeed, the greater part of their bodies, are covered with an abnormal profusion of hair.”

This, however, has been questioned, notably by Mr. Barnard Davis, whose paper may be read in the 3rd vol. of the “Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London”--and he quotes from several travellers, to prove that the hairyness of the Aïnos had been exaggerated. However, Miss Bird in her “Unbeaten Tracks in Japan” may fairly be said to have put the subject at rest, for she visited, and travelled in the Aïno country. She, certainly, disproves the theory that, as a race, they were hairy, although she confesses that some were--as, for instance (p. 232), “They wore no clothing, but only one was hairy,” and, writing from Biratori, Yezo (p. 255), she says, “The men are about the middle height, broad-chested, broad-shouldered, thick set, very strongly built, the arms and legs short, thick, and muscular, the hands and feet large. The bodies, and especially the limbs of many, are covered with short, bristly hair. I have seen two boys whose backs are covered with fur as fine, and soft, as that of a cat.” Again (p. 283), “The profusion of black hair, and a curious intensity about their eyes, coupled with the hairy limbs and singularly vigorous _physique_, give them a formidably savage appearance; but the smile, full of ‘sweetness and light,’ in which both eyes and mouth bear part, and the low, musical voice, softer and sweeter than anything I have previously heard, make me, at times, forget that they are savages at all.”

THE OURAN OUTAN.

Transition from hirsute humanity to the apes, is easy, and natural--and we need only deal with the Simiinæ, which includes the Orang, the Chimpanzee, and the Gorilla. These are the largest apes, and nearest approach to man--but, although they may be tailless, yet there is that short great toe which prevents any acceptation of their humanity. The orang is exclusively an inhabitant of Borneo and Sumatra, and in those two islands it may be found in the swampy forests near the coast. It grows to a large size, for an ape, about four feet four inches high, but is neither so large, nor so strong, as the Gorilla. Compared with man, its arms seem to be as extravagantly long, as its legs are ridiculously short. When wild, it feeds entirely on vegetable diet, and makes a kind of house, or nest, in trees, interweaving the branches, so as to obtain shelter. They do not stand confinement well, being languid and miserable--but, in their native wildness, they can, if necessity arises, fight well in their own defence. A. R. Wallace, in his “Malay Archipelago; the Land of the Orang Utan and the Bird of Paradise,” tells the following story of its combativeness.

“A few miles down the river there is a Dyak house, and the inhabitants saw a large orang feeding on the young shoots of a palm by the river side. On being alarmed, he retreated towards the jungle, which was close by, and a number of the men, armed with spears and choppers, ran out to intercept him. The man who was in front, tried to run his spear through the animal’s body, but the orang seized it in his hands, and in an instant got hold of the man’s arm, which he seized in his mouth, making his teeth meet in the flesh above the elbow, which he tore and lacerated in a dreadful manner. Had not the others been close behind, the man would have been seriously injured, if not killed, as he was quite powerless; but they soon destroyed the creature with their spears and choppers. The man remained ill for a long time, and never fully recovered the use of his arm.”

It is called the Simia Satyrus; probably on its presumed lustfulness, certainly not on account of its resemblance to the satyr of antiquity.

Gesner gives us his idea of the orang, presenting us with the accompanying figure of the Cercopithecus, and quotes Cardanus as saying that the Cercopithecus or Wild-man, is singularly made, having the height and form of a man, with legs like man’s--and is covered all over with hair. No animal can withstand it, with the exception of man, to whom, when in its own regions, it is not inferior. It loves boys and women.

Pliny speaks of the Satyr Ape thus: “Among the mountainous districts of the eastern parts of India, in what is called the country of the Catharcludi, we find the Satyr, an animal of extraordinary swiftness. They go sometimes on four feet, and sometimes walk erect; they have, also, the features of a human being. On account of their swiftness, these creatures are never to be caught, except when they are aged, or sickly,” and, in another place, he says, “The Sphyngium and the Satyr stow away food in the pouches of their cheeks, after which they will take out piece by piece in their hands, and eat it.”

Topsell has mixed up the Simia Satyrus with the classical satyr, having legs and horns like goats; but he evidently alludes to the former in this passage. “The _Satyres_ are in the Islands _Satiridæ_, which are three in number, right over against India on the farther side of the _Ganges_; of which _Euphemus Car_ rehearseth this history: that when he sailed unto _Italy_, by the rage of winde and evill weather, they were driven to a coast unnavigable, where were many desart Islandes, inhabited of wild men, and the marriners refused to land upon some Islands, having heretofore had triall of the inhumaine and uncivill behaviour of the inhabitants, so that they brought us to the _Satyrian Islands_, where we saw the inhabitants red, and had tayles joyned to their backs, not much lesse than horsses. These, being perceived by the marriners to run to the shippes, and lay hold on the women that were in them, the shipmen, for feare, took one of the Barbarian women, and set her on the land among them, whom in most odious and filthy manner, they abused, whereby they found them to be very bruit beasts.”

He gives us his idea of the Simia Satyrus, which must have been an accomplished animal, for not only could it, apparently, play upon the pipe, but it had a handy pouch for the reception of the fruit (in lieu of coppers) which it doubtless would receive as guerdon for its performance.

SATYRS.

He also mentions and delineates a curious Ape which closely resembles the classical Satyr: “Under the _Equinoctiall_, toward the East and South, there is a kind of Ape called _Ægopithecus_, an Ape like a Goate. For there are Apes like Beares, called _Arctopitheci_, and some like Lyons, called _Leontopitheci_, and some like Dogs, called _Cynocephali_, as is before expressed; and many other which have a mixt resemblance of other creatures in their members.

“Amongst the rest there is a beast called PAN; who in his head, face, horns, legs, and from the loynes downward resembleth a Goat, but in his belly, breast, and armes, an Ape: such a one was sent by the King of _Indians_ to Constantine, which, being shut up in a cave or close place, by reason of the wildnesse thereof, lived there but a season, and when it was dead and bowelled, they pouldred it with spices, and carried it to be seene at Constantinople: the which beast having beene seene of the ancient Græcians, were so amazed at the strangenesse thereof, that they received it for a God, as they did a Satyre, and other strange beasts.”

I have said that Topsell has mixed the Ape and the Satyr, inextricably--but as his version has the charm of description and anecdote, I give it with little curtailment.

“As the _Cynocephali_, or _Baboun_ Apes have given occasion to some to imagine (though falsly) there were such men, so the _Satyre_, a most rare and seldom seene beast, hath occasioned other to thinke it was a Devil; and the Poets with their Apes, the Painters, Limners, and Carvers, to encrease that superstition, have therefore described him with hornes on his head, and feet like Goates, whereas Satires have neither of both. And it may be that Devils have at some time appeared to men in this likenes, as they have done in the likeness of the _Onocentaure_ and wild Asse, and other shapes; it being also probable that Devils take not any dænomination or shape from Satyres, but rather the Apes themselves, from Devils whom they resemble, for there are many things common to the Satyre Apes, and devilish Satyres, as their human shape, their abode in solitary places, their rough hayre, and lust to women, wherewith all other Apes are naturally infected; but especially Satyres....

“Peradventure the name of Satyre is more fitly derived from the Hebrew, _Sair, Esa._ 34, whereof the plural is _Seirim, Esa._ 13, which is interpreted monsters of the Desart, or rough hairy Fawnes; and when Iisim is put to _Seir_, it signifieth Goats.

“The _Chaldæans_, for _Seirim_, render _Schedin_; that is, evill devills; and the _Arabians_, _lesejathin_, that is _Satanas_: the _Persyans_, _Devan_, the _Illyrians_, _Devadai_, and _Dewas_: the _Germans_, _Teufel_. They which passed through the world, and exercised dauncing and other sports for _Dionisius_, were called Satyres, and sometimes _Tytiri_, because of their wanton songes; sometimes _Sileni_ (although the difference is, that the smaller and younger beasts are called _Satiri_, the elder, and greater, _Sileni_;) Also _Bacchæ_ and _Nymphæ_, wherefore _Bacchus_ is pictured riding in a chariot of vine branches, _Silenus_ ridinge beside him on an Asse, and the _Bacchæ_ or _Satyres_ shaking togetheer their staulkie Javelines and Paulmers.[27] By reason of their leaping they are called _Scirti_, and the anticke or satyrical dauncing, _Sicinnis_, and they also sometimes _Sicinnistæ_; sometimes _Ægipanæ_; wherefore _Pliny_ reporteth, that among the westerne _Ethiopians_, there are certain little hilles full of the _Satirique Ægipanæ_, and that, in the night-time they use great fires, piping and dansing, with a wonderful noise of Tymbrels and Cymbals; and so also in _Atlas_ amongest the Moores, whereof there was no footing, remnant, or appearance, to be found in the daytime.

“... There are also _Satires_ in the Eastern mountaines of _India_, in the country of the _Cartaduli_, and in the province of the _Comari_ and _Corudæ_, but the _Cebi_ spoken of before, bred in _Ethiopia_, are not _Satyres_ (though faced like them:) nor the _Prasyan_ Apes, which resemble _Satyres_ in short beards. There are many kindes of these _Satyres_ better distinguished by names than any properties naturall known unto us. Such are the _Ægipanæ_, before declared, _Nymphes_ of the Poets, _Fawnes_, _Pan_ and _Sileni_, which, in time of the Gentiles were worshipped for Gods; and it was one part of their religion to set up the picture of a Satyre at their dores and gates, for a remedy against the bewitching of envious persons.

“... Satyres have no humaine conditions in them, nor any other resemblance of men besides their outward shape; though _Solinus_ speakes of them like as of men. They carry their meate under their chin as in a store house, and from thence being hungry, they take it forth to eat, making it ordinary with them every day, which is but annuall in the _Formicæ_ lions; being of very unquiet motions above other Apes. They are hardly taken, except sicke, great with yong, old or asleepe; for _Sylla_ had a _Satyre_ brought him, which was taken asleepe neare _Apollonia_, in the holy place _Nymphæum_, of whom he (by divers interpreters) demanded many questions, but received no answer, save only a voice very much like the neighing of a horse, wherof he being afraid, sent him away alive.

“_Philostratus_ telleth another history, how that _Apollonius_ and his colleagues, supping in a village of _Ethiopia_, beyond the fall of _Nilus_, they heard a sudden outcry of women calling to one another; some saying, _Take him_, others, _Follow him_; likewise provoking their husbands to helpe them: the men presently tooke clubs, stones, or what came first to hand, complaining of an injury done unto their wives. Now some ten moneths before, there had appeared a fearfull shew of a Satyre, raging upon their women, and had slain two of them, with whom he was in love: the companions of _Apollonius_ quaked at the hearing hereof, and _Nilus_, one of them, swore (by _Jove_) that they being naked and unarmed, could not be able to resist him in his outragious lust, but that he would accomplish his wantonnes as before: yet, said _Apollonius_, there is a remedy to quaile these wanton-leaping beasts, which men say _Midas_ used (for _Midas_ was of kindred to _Satyres_, as appeared by his eares). This _Midas_ heard his mother say, that _Satyres_ loved to be drunke with wine, and then sleep soundly, and after that, be so moderate, mild and gentle, that a man might thinke they had lost their first nature.

“Whereupon he put wine into a fountain neere the highway, whereof, when the _Satyre_ had tasted, he waxed meeke suddenly, and was overcome. Now that we thinke not this a fable (saith _Apollonius_) let us go to the Governor of the Towne, and inquire of him whether there be any wine to be had that we may offer it to the _Satyre_, wherunto all consented, and they filled foure great _Egyptian_ earthen vessels with wine, and put it in the fountain where their cattel were watred: this done, _Apollonius_ called the _Satyre_, secretly thretning him, and the _Satire_, inraged with the savour of the wine came; after he had drunke thereof, Now, said _Apollonius_, let us sacrifice to the _Satyre_, for he sleepeth, and so led the inhabitants to the dens of the _Nymphs_, distant a furlong from the towne, and shewed them the _Satyre_ saying; Neither beat, cursse, or provoke him henceforth, and he shall never harme you.