head, small hands and feet, but with a fully developed body,
large breasts, and large projecting nates.[134]

To a certain extent--and, as we shall see, to a certain extent only--the
primary sexual characters are objects of admiration among primitive
peoples. In the primitive dances of many peoples, often of sexual
significance, the display of the sexual organs on the part of both men and
women is frequently a prominent feature. Even down to mediaeval times in
Europe the garments of men sometimes permitted the sexual organs to be
visible. In some parts of the world, also, the artificial enlargement of
the female sexual organs is practised, and thus enlarged they are
considered an important and attractive feature of beauty.

Sir Andrew Smith informed Darwin that the elongated nymphae (or
"Hottentot apron") found among the women of some South African
tribes was formerly greatly admired by the men (_Descent of Man_,
Chapter XIX). This formation is probably a natural peculiarity of
the women of these races which is very much exaggerated by
intentional manipulation due to the admiration it arouses. The
missionary Merensky reported the prevalence of the practice of
artificial elongation among the Basuto and other peoples, and the
anatomical evidence is in favor of its partly artificial
character. (The Hottentot apron is fully discussed by Ploss and
Bartels, _Das Weib_, bd. I, sec. vi.)

In the Jaboo country on the Bight of Benin in West Africa,
Daniell stated, it was considered ornamental to elongate the
labia and the clitoris artificially; small weights were appended
to the clitoris and gradually increased. (W.F. Daniell,
_Topography of Gulf of Guinea_, 1849, pp. 24, 53.)

Among the Bawenda of the northern Transvaal, the missionary
Wessmann states, it is customary for young girls from the age of
8 to spend a certain amount of time every day in pulling the
_labia majora_ in order to elongate them; in selecting a wife the
young men attach much importance to this elongation, and the girl
whose labia stand out most is most attractive. (_Zeitschrift fuer
Ethnologie_, 1894, ht. 4, p. 363.)

It may be added that in various parts of the world mutilations of
the sexual organs of men and women, or operations upon them, are
practiced, for reasons which are imperfectly known, since it
usually happens that the people who pract