physician's aid." Dr. Holder mentions the case of a young woman
who, although brought near the verge of death in a very difficult
first confinement, repeatedly refused to allow him to examine
her; at last she consented; "her modest preparation was to take
bits of quilt and cover thighs and lips of vulva, leaving only
the aperture exposed.... Their modesty would not be so striking
were it not that, almost to a woman, the females of this tribe
are prostitutes, and for a consideration will admit the
connection of any man." (A.B. Holder, _American Journal of
Obstetrics_, vol. xxv, No. 6, 1892.)

"In every North American tribe, from the most northern to the
most southern, the skirt of the woman is longer than that of the
men. In Esquimau land the _parka_ of deerskin and sealskin
reaches to the knees. Throughout Central North America the
buckskin dress of the women reached quite to the ankles. The
West-Coast women, from Oregon to the Gulf of California, wore a
petticoat of shredded bark, of plaited grass, or of strings, upon
which were strung hundreds of seeds. Even in the most tropical
areas the rule was universal, as anyone can see from the codices
or in pictures of the natives." (Otis T. Mason, _Woman's Share in
Primitive Culture_, p. 237.)

Describing the loin-cloth worn by Nicobarese men, Man says: "From
the clumsy mode in which this garment is worn by the Shom
Pen--necessitating frequent readjustment of the folds--one is led
to infer that its use is not _de rigueur_, but reserved for
special occasions, as when receiving or visiting strangers."
(E.H. Man, _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1886, p.
442.)