The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals [134]
render a blush much more conspicuous than in most of the other natives of India. With the latter, shame, or it may be in part fear, is expressed, according to Mr. Scott, much more plainly by the head being averted or bent down, with the eyes wavering or turned askant, than by any change of colour in the skin.
The Semitic races blush freely, as might have been expected, from their general similitude to the Aryans. Thus with the Jews, it is said in the Book of Jeremiah (chap. vi. 15), "Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush." Mrs. Asa Gray saw an Arab managing his boat clumsily on the Nile, and when laughed at by his companions, "he blushed quite to the back of his neck." Lady Duff Gordon remarks that a young Arab blushed on coming into her presence.[10]
Mr. Swinhoe has seen the Chinese blushing, but he thinks it is rare; yet they have the expression "to redden with shame." Mr. Geach informs me that the Chinese settled in Malacca and the native Malays of the interior both blush. Some of these people go nearly naked, and he particularly attended to the downward extension of the blush. Omitting the cases in which the face alone was seen to blush, Mr. Geach observed that the face, arms, and breast of a Chinaman, aged 24 years, reddened from shame; and with another Chinese, when asked why he had not done his work in better style, the whole body was similarly affected. In two Malays[11] he saw the face, neck, breast, and arms blushing; and in a third Malay (a Bugis) the blush extended down to the waist.
The Polynesians blush freely. The Rev. Mr. Stack has seen hundreds of instances with the New Zealanders. The following case is worth giving, as it relates to an old man who was unusually dark-coloured and partly tattooed. After having let his land to an Englishman for a small yearly rental, a strong passion seized him to buy a gig, which had lately become the fashion with the Maoris. He consequently wished to draw all the rent for four years from his tenant, and consulted Mr. Stack whether he could do so. The man was old, clumsy, poor, and ragged, and the idea of his driving himself about in his carriage for display amused Mr. Stack so much that he could not help bursting out into a laugh; and then "the old man blushed up to the roots of his hair." Forster says that "you may easily distinguish a spreading blush" on the cheeks of the fairest women in Tahiti.[12] The natives also of several of the other archipelagoes in the Pacific have been seen to blush.
[10] `Letters from Egypt,' 1865, p. 66. Lady Gordon is mistaken when she says Malays and Mulattoes never blush.
[11] Capt. Osborn (`Quedah,' p. 199), in speaking of a Malay, whom be reproached for cruelty, says he was glad to see that the man blushed.
Mr. Washington Matthews has often seen a blush on the faces of the young squaws belonging to various wild Indian tribes of North America. At the opposite extremity of the continent in Tierra del Fuego, the natives, according to Mr. Bridges, "blush much, but chiefly in regard to women; but they certainly blush also at their own personal appearance." This latter statement agrees with what I remember of the Fuegian, Jemmy Button, who blushed when he was quizzed about the care which he took in polishing his shoes, and in otherwise adorning himself. With respect to the Aymara Indians on the lofty plateaus of Bolivia, Mr. Forbes says,[13] that from the colour of their skins it is impossible that their blushes should be as clearly visible as in the white races; still under such circumstances as would raise a blush in us, "there can always be seen the same expression of modesty or confusion; and even in the dark, a rise of temperature of the skin of the face can be felt, exactly as occurs in the European." With the Indians who inhabit the hot, equable, and damp parts of South America, the skin apparently does not answer to mental excitement so readily as with the natives of the northern and southern parts of the continent, who have long been exposed to great vicissitudes of climate; for
The Semitic races blush freely, as might have been expected, from their general similitude to the Aryans. Thus with the Jews, it is said in the Book of Jeremiah (chap. vi. 15), "Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush." Mrs. Asa Gray saw an Arab managing his boat clumsily on the Nile, and when laughed at by his companions, "he blushed quite to the back of his neck." Lady Duff Gordon remarks that a young Arab blushed on coming into her presence.[10]
Mr. Swinhoe has seen the Chinese blushing, but he thinks it is rare; yet they have the expression "to redden with shame." Mr. Geach informs me that the Chinese settled in Malacca and the native Malays of the interior both blush. Some of these people go nearly naked, and he particularly attended to the downward extension of the blush. Omitting the cases in which the face alone was seen to blush, Mr. Geach observed that the face, arms, and breast of a Chinaman, aged 24 years, reddened from shame; and with another Chinese, when asked why he had not done his work in better style, the whole body was similarly affected. In two Malays[11] he saw the face, neck, breast, and arms blushing; and in a third Malay (a Bugis) the blush extended down to the waist.
The Polynesians blush freely. The Rev. Mr. Stack has seen hundreds of instances with the New Zealanders. The following case is worth giving, as it relates to an old man who was unusually dark-coloured and partly tattooed. After having let his land to an Englishman for a small yearly rental, a strong passion seized him to buy a gig, which had lately become the fashion with the Maoris. He consequently wished to draw all the rent for four years from his tenant, and consulted Mr. Stack whether he could do so. The man was old, clumsy, poor, and ragged, and the idea of his driving himself about in his carriage for display amused Mr. Stack so much that he could not help bursting out into a laugh; and then "the old man blushed up to the roots of his hair." Forster says that "you may easily distinguish a spreading blush" on the cheeks of the fairest women in Tahiti.[12] The natives also of several of the other archipelagoes in the Pacific have been seen to blush.
[10] `Letters from Egypt,' 1865, p. 66. Lady Gordon is mistaken when she says Malays and Mulattoes never blush.
[11] Capt. Osborn (`Quedah,' p. 199), in speaking of a Malay, whom be reproached for cruelty, says he was glad to see that the man blushed.
Mr. Washington Matthews has often seen a blush on the faces of the young squaws belonging to various wild Indian tribes of North America. At the opposite extremity of the continent in Tierra del Fuego, the natives, according to Mr. Bridges, "blush much, but chiefly in regard to women; but they certainly blush also at their own personal appearance." This latter statement agrees with what I remember of the Fuegian, Jemmy Button, who blushed when he was quizzed about the care which he took in polishing his shoes, and in otherwise adorning himself. With respect to the Aymara Indians on the lofty plateaus of Bolivia, Mr. Forbes says,[13] that from the colour of their skins it is impossible that their blushes should be as clearly visible as in the white races; still under such circumstances as would raise a blush in us, "there can always be seen the same expression of modesty or confusion; and even in the dark, a rise of temperature of the skin of the face can be felt, exactly as occurs in the European." With the Indians who inhabit the hot, equable, and damp parts of South America, the skin apparently does not answer to mental excitement so readily as with the natives of the northern and southern parts of the continent, who have long been exposed to great vicissitudes of climate; for