t is the only thing worn in the house by adults. It is the
custom of wearing fur next the skin which compels them to go
naked in the house. They are very unwilling, under any
circumstances, to lay aside the _natit_. Their songs and games
are exceedingly licentious, and their myths are obscene. They do
not keep these from the children. A great number live crowded in
a little house, as an insurance against accidents or lack of
food. This mode of life makes decency impossible and lowers the
standard of propriety. Children are married at four or five years
of age, but the relationship does not become established until a
child is born. In summer, in tent life, two men exchange wives
and some property. If one of them wants to keep the other's
property, he must keep the wife, too.[1506] The Fuegians observe
great decorum as to subjects of conversation.[1507] The Seminoles
of Florida observe a high sex taboo. The women are virtuous and
modest, and no half-breeds with whites exist. The mother of a
half-breed would be put to death.[1508] The Tehuelches of
Patagonia pay great attention to decency. They do not like to see
children naked.[1509] The Indians of northern Nicaragua think
that whites do not bathe enough. They always retire to running
water, and are disgusted with whites for not taking that
care.[1510]

+468. Bathing. Customs of nudity.+ The natives of Rotuma never bathe
without the loin cloth. To do so is thought low conduct.[1511] The
people of Ponape rise early and bathe, the sexes always separating
unless married.[1512] Bock[1513] says that the Dyaks, without
hesitation, threw off their garments and bathed in the presence of
himself and Malays, the sexes together. The sexes of the Yuroks in
California bathe apart and the women never go into the sea without some
garment.[1514] The women of the Mandans had a bathing place. Armed
sentinels were set to prevent men from approaching it.[1515] In
Hindostan the sexes now bathe together at certain times and places with
very little clothing. Wilkins[1516] says, "I have never seen the
slightest impropriety of gesture on these occasions." Although at an
earlier period some clothing was worn in bed, in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, in Europe, both sexes slept nude. Better beds and
separate bed clothes led to this custom, because it was such a relief to
take off woolen and fur worn in the daytime. Then nudity