ever. It is the comparison of the mores of
different times and peoples which shows the arbitrariness and
conventionality. It would be difficult to mention anything in Oriental
mores which we regard with such horror as Orientals feel for low-necked
dresses and round dances. Orientals use dress to conceal the contour of
the form. The waist of a woman is made to disappear by a girdle. To an
Oriental a corset, which increases the waist line and the plasticity of
the figure, is the extreme of indecency--far worse than nudity. It seems
like an application of the art of the courtesan to appeal to
sensuality.[1408] Perhaps the most instructive case of all is that of
the Tuareg men, who keep the mouth always covered. The cloth has a
utilitarian purpose,--to prevent thirst by retarding evaporation from
the air passages. "They never remove the veil, on a journey, or in
repose, not even to eat, much less to sleep." "A Tuareg would think that
he committed an impropriety if he should remove his veil, unless it was
in extreme intimacy or for a medical investigation." "At Paris I strove
in vain to induce three Tuaregs to remove their veils for the purpose of
being photographed."[1409] No superstitious reason for this veil is
known. Madame Pommerol[1410] reports that a Tuareg man told her that men
keep the mouth covered lest the play of it should expose their feelings
to another man. Women, he said, had no such need, since enemies never
approach them. Evidently we have here a case of an ancient fact that men
are never seen with the mouth uncovered, which has produced a feeling
that a man _ought_ never to be seen with it uncovered, and rational and
utilitarian reasons or explanations have been invented later. Those who
paint the body are ashamed to be seen unpainted. In the tribes which are
tattooed one would be ashamed who was not tattooed.

+448. Decency and vanity.+ It is another case of shame or offended
modesty if the taboo in the mores on acts, words, postures, etc., is
broken in one's presence. It is a breach of the respect which one
expects, that is, it wounds vanity.

We are ashamed to go barefoot, probably because it is an ordinary
evidence of poverty. Von den Steinen has well suggested that some day it
may be said that shoes were invented on account of "innate" shame at
exposing the feet.[1411] In recent years fashion has allowed young
people to leave off all head-covering. It could permit them to go
barefooted if the whim sh