nos of the Kurile Islands
and Japan are said to be a hairy race; but Mr. Bickmore, who saw some of
them, and described them in a paper read before the Ethnological
Society, gives no details as to where the hair was most abundant, merely
stating generally, that "their chief peculiarity is their great
abundance of hair, not only on the head and face, but over the whole
body." This might very well be said of any man who had hairy limbs and
breast, unless it was specially stated that his back was hairy, which
is not done in this case. The hairy family in Birmah have, indeed, hair
on the back rather longer than on the breast, thus reproducing the true
mammalian character, but they have still longer hair on the face,
forehead, and inside the ears, which is quite abnormal; and the fact
that their teeth are all very imperfect, shows that this is a case of
monstrosity rather than one of true reversion to the ancestral type of
man before he lost his hairy covering.

_Savage Man feels the Want of this Hairy Covering._

We must now enquire if we have any evidence to show, or any reason to
believe, that a hairy covering to the back would be in any degree
hurtful to savage man, or to man in any stage of his progress from his
lower animal form; and if it were merely useless, could it have been so
entirely and completely removed as not to be continually reappearing in
mixed races? Let us look to savage man for some light on these points.
One of the most common habits of savages is to use some covering for the
back and shoulders, even when they have none on any other part of the
body. The early voyagers observed with surprise, that the Tasmanians,
both men and women, wore the kangaroo-skin, which was their only
covering, not from any feeling of modesty, but over the shoulders to
keep the back dry and warm. A cloth over the shoulders was also the
national dress of the Maories. The Patagonians wear a cloak or mantle
over the shoulders, and the Fuegians often wear a small piece of skin on
the back, laced on, and shifted from side to side as the wind blows.
The Hottentots also wore a somewhat similar skin over the back, which
they never removed, and in which they were buried. Even in the tropics
most savages take precautions to keep their backs dry. The natives of
Timor use the leaf of a fan palm, carefully stitched up and folded,
which they always carry with them, and which, held over the back, forms
an admirable protection from the rai