"[41]
These various accounts are of considerable interest, though for the most
part their precise significance remains doubtful. Some of them,
however,--such as Holder's description of the _bote_, Baumann's account of
homosexual phenomena in Zanzibar, and especially Seligmann's observations
in British New Guinea,--indicate not only the presence of esthetic
inversion but of true congenital sexual inversion. The extent of the
evidence will doubtless be greatly enlarged as the number of competent
observers increases, and crucial points are no longer so frequently
overlooked.
On the whole, the evidence shows that among lower races homosexual
practices are regarded with considerable indifference, and the real
invert, if he exists among them, as doubtless he does exist, generally
passes unperceived or joins some sacred caste which sanctifies his
exclusively homosexual inclinations.
Even in Europe today a considerable lack of repugnance to homosexual
practices may be found among the lower classes. In this matter, as
folklore shows in so many other matters, the uncultured man of
civilization is linked to the savage.
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