_mika_ operation on
the basis of information he received from missionaries at Niol-Niol, on
the northwest coast. The subincised man acts as a female to the as yet
unoperated boys, who perform coitus in the incised opening. Both informed
Klaatsch in 1906 that at Boulia in Queensland the operated men are said to
"possess a vulva."[41]

These various accounts are of considerable interest, though for the most
part their precise significance remains doubtful. Some of them,
however,--such as Holder's description of the _bote_, Baumann's account of
homosexual phenomena in Zanzibar, and especially Seligmann's observations
in British New Guinea,--indicate not only the presence of esthetic
inversion but of true congenital sexual inversion. The extent of the
evidence will doubtless be greatly enlarged as the number of competent
observers increases, and crucial points are no longer so frequently
overlooked.

On the whole, the evidence shows that among lower races homosexual
practices are regarded with considerable indifference, and the real
invert, if he exists among them, as doubtless he does exist, generally
passes unperceived or joins some sacred caste which sanctifies his
exclusively homosexual inclinations.

Even in Europe today a considerable lack of repugnance to homosexual
practices may be found among the lower classes. In this matter, as
folklore shows in so many other matters, the uncultured man of
civilization is linked to the savage. In England, I am told, the soldier
often has little or no objection to prostitute himself to the "swell" who
pays him, although for pleasure he prefers to go to women; and Hyde Park
is spoken of as a center of male prostitution.

"Among the working masses of England and Scotland," Q. writes,
"'comradeship' is well marked, though not (as in Italy) very
conscious of itself. Friends often kiss each other, though this
habit seems to vary a good deal in different sections and
coteries. Men commonly sleep together, whether comrades or not,
and so easily get familiar. Occasionally, but not so very often,
this relation delays for a time, or even indefinitely, actual
marriage, and in some instances is highly passionate and
romantic. There is a good deal of grossness, no doubt, here and
there in this direction among the masses; but there are no male
prostitutes (that I am aware of) whose regular clients are manual
workers. This kind of prostitutio