Semites and old civilizations generally; we must not be deceived by the occasional examples of immodesty in individual cases.  The Sunna prescribes that a man shall not uncover himself even to himself, and shall not wash naked—­from fear of God and of spirits; Job did so, and atoned for it heavily.  When in Arab antiquity grown-up persons showed themselves naked, it was only under extraordinary circumstances, and to attain unusual ends....  Women when mourning uncovered not only the face and bosom, but also tore all their garments.  The messenger who brought bad news tore his garments.  A mother desiring to bring pressure to bear on her son took off her clothes.  A man to whom vengeance is forbidden showed his despair and disapproval by uncovering his posterior and strewing earth on his head, or by raising his garment behind and covering his head with it.  This was done also in fulfilling natural necessities.” (Wellhausen, Reste Arabischen Heidentums, 1897, pp. 173, 195-196.)

Mantegazza mentions that a Lapland woman refused even for the sum of 150 francs to allow him to photograph her naked, though the men placed themselves before the camera in the costume of Adam for a much smaller sum.  In the same book Mantegazza remarks that in the eighteenth century, travelers found it extremely difficult to persuade Samoyed women to show themselves naked.  Among the same people, he says, the newly-married wife must conceal her face from her husband for two months after marriage, and only then yield to his embraces. (Mantegazza, La Donna, cap.  IV.)

“The beauty of a Chinese woman,” says Dr. Matignon, “resides largely in her foot.  ’A foot which is not deformed is a dishonor,’ says a poet.  For the husband the foot is more interesting than the face.  Only the husband may see his wife’s foot naked.  A Chinese woman is as reticent in showing her feet to a man as a European woman her breasts.  I have often had to treat Chinese women with ridiculously small feet for wounds and excoriations, the result of tight-bandaging.  They exhibited the prudishness of school-girls, blushed, turned their backs to unfasten the bandages, and then concealed the foot in a cloth, leaving only the affected part uncovered.  Modesty is a question of convention; Chinese have it for their feet,” (J.  Matignon, “A propos d’un Pied de Chinoise,” Archives d’Anthropologie Criminelle, 1898, p. 445.)

Among the Yakuts of Northeast Siberia, “there was a well-known custom according to which a bride should avoid showing herself or her uncovered body to her father-in-law.  In ancient times, they say, a bride concealed herself for seven years from her father-in-law, and from the brothers and other masculine relations of her husband....  The men also tried not to meet her, saying, ‘The poor child will be ashamed.’  If a meeting could not be avoided the young woman put a mask on her face....  Nowadays, the