THE ladies in Japan gild their teeth, and those of Indies paint them red. The pearl of the teeth must be dyed black to be beautiful in Guzerat. In Greenland the women color their faces with blue and yellow. However fresh the complexion of a Muscovite may be, she would think herself very ugly if she were not plastered over with paint. The Chinese must have their feet as diminutive as those of the she-goat; and to render them thus their youth is passed in tortures. In ancient Persia an aquiline nose was often thought worthy of the crown; and if there was any competition between two princes, the people generally went by this criterion of majesty. In some countries the mothers black the noses of their children, and others press the head between two boards, that it may become square. The modern Persians have a strong aversion to red hair: the Turks, on the contrary, are warm admirers of it. The female Hottentot receives from the hand of her lover, not silks nor wreaths of flowers, but the entrails of animals, to dress herself with—enviable ornaments.
In China, small, round eyes are liked, and the girls are continually plucking their eyebrows, that they may be thin and long. The Turkish women dip a gold brush in a tincture of a black drug, and pass over the eyebrows. It is too visible by day, but looks shining by night. They tinge their nails with a rose color. An African beauty must have small eyes, thick lips, a large, flat nose, and a skin beautifully black. The emperor of Monomotapa would not change his amiable negress for the most brilliant European beauty.
An ornament for the nose appears to us perfectly unnecessary. The Peruvians, however, think otherwise; and they hang on it a weighty ring, the thickness of which is proportioned by the rank of their husbands. This is rather troublesome to them in blowing their noses, but the fact is, and some have informed us, that the Indian ladies never perform this very useful operation.
The female head-dress is carried in some countries to singular extravagance. The Chinese fair carries on her head the figure of a certain bird. This bird is composed of copper or gold, according to the quality of the person: the wings spread out, fall over the front of the head-dress and conceal the temples. The tail, long and open, forms a beautiful tuft of feathers. The beak covers the top of the nose; the neck is fastened to the body of the artificial animal by a spring, that it may the more freely play and tremble at the slightest motion.
The extravagance of the Myantsees is far more ridiculous than the above. They carry on their heads a slight board, rather longer than a foot, and about six inches broad; this they cover with the hair, and seal it with wax. They cannot lie down, or lean without keeping the neck straight; and the country being very woody, it is not uncommon to find them with their head-dresses entangled in the trees. Whenever they comb their hair, they pass an hour by the fire in melting the wax; but this combing is only performed once or twice a year.—Curiosities of Literature.