Note 244-1 — Chapter II

In New Holland they are beaten by their husbands even on the day of their confinement. Their heads are sometimes covered with countless scars. Collins says that for mere pity one might wish a young woman there death rather than marriage. (Account of N. S. Wales, 560 ff.) South American Indian women actually kill their daughters, with a view of improving the condition of women. (Azara, Reisen in S. Amerika, II, 63.) How the women among the aboriginal inhabitants of North America were oppressed is best illustrated by the absence of ornaments among the women, while the men were very gaudily decked, and carried small hand-mirrors with them. (Prinz Neuwied, N. A. Reise, II, 108 seq.) The early decay of female beauty among all barbarous nations is related to the ill-treatment they receive.