Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 357

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
317
Their stomachs are flat, and they rarely carry much flesh.
Their legs are usually slightly bowed the wrong way and
a little crooked, the result no doubt of their habit of squat-
ting on the ground with their legs crossed under them like
our tailors. Neither have they any calves, which are con-
sidered anything but a beauty.
Men who work in the
fields or who are always exposed to the sun are quite as
black in colour as the inhabitants of Kaffraria or Guinea
but the complexion of those who, like the Brahmins, spend
their days under cover, or lead a sedentary life, is many
degrees lighter. A very dark Brahmin and a fair Pariah
are looked upon as monstrosities.
Hence no doubt the
proverb Beware of a black Brahmin or a fair Pariah
A Brahmin is generally the colour of brass, or perhaps of
weak coffee. This is considered the most correct shade
and the women who are the colour of light gingerbread are
most admired. I have seen Brahmins, and particularly
Brahmin women, who were not as dark as the inhabitants
of Southern Europe.
Furthermore the palms of the hands
and the soles of the feet of Hindus of both sexes are almost
as white as our own \
On the mountains and in the dense jungles of the Malabar
coast there are some savage tribes who are much lighter
in colour.
In Coorg there is a tribe known as the Malai-
Kondiaru who in outward appearance closely resemble
Spaniards and Portuguese. The cause of this phenomenon
is no doubt due partly to the climatic influences of the
country they live in, and partly to their habit of always
living in dense forests where the rays of the sun cannot
;
'
'
!
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penetrate.
You may sometimes meet a few, but very few, indi-
viduals whose skin is even fairer than that of a European,
and with hair of the same colour. Of course this extreme
fairness is unnatural, and makes them very repulsive to
look at. In fact, these unfortunate beings are objects of
horror to every one, and even their parents desert them.
They are looked upon as lepers 2
.
1
They share
Dubois.
Learned physiologists have thought that these men really are lepers,
and that this whiteness is produced by some malady which dries up the
skin.
They also think that black people would be much more suDJect
-
this characteristic with the Negroes.