"My little neck-satchel of sweet-scented moss, My little neck-satchel of fragrant fern, My little neck-satchel of odoriferous gum, My sweet-smelling neck-locket of sharp-pointed _taramea_."
In the summer season the sleeping houses of Maori chiefs were often strewed with a large, sweet-scented, flowering grass of powerful odor. (W. Colenso, _Transactions of the New Zealand Institute_, vol. xxiv, reprinted in _Nature_, November 10, 1892.)
Javanese women rub themselves with a mixture of chalk and strong essence which, when rubbed off, leaves a distinct perfume on the body. (Stratz, _Die Frauenkleidung_, p. 84.)
The Samoans, Friedländer states (_Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, 1899, p. 52), are very fond of fragrant and aromatic odors. He gives a list of some twenty odorous plants which they use, more especially as garlands for the head and neck, including ylang-ylang and gardenia; he remarks that of one of these plants (cordyline) he could not himself detect the odor.
The Nicobarese, Man remarks (_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1889, p. 377), like the natives of New Zealand, particularly dislike the smell of carbolic acid. Both young men and women are very partial to scents; the former say they find their use a certain passport to the favor of their wives, and they bring home from the jungle the scented leaves of a certain creeper to their sweethearts and wives.
Swahili women devote much attention to perfuming themselves. When a woman wishes to make herself desirable she anoints herself all over with fragrant ointments, sprinkles herself with rose-water, puts perfume into her clothes, strews jasmine flowers on her bed as well as binding them round her neck and waist, and smokes _ûdi_, the perfumed wood of the aloe; "every man is glad when his wife smells of _ûdi_" (Velten, _Sitten und Gebraüche der Suaheli_, pp. 212-214).
[24] Emile Yung, "Le Sens Olfactif de l'Escargot (Helix Pomata)," _Archives de Psychologie_, November, 1903.
[25] The sensitiveness of smell in man generally exceeds that of chemical reaction or even of spectral analysis; see Passy, _L'Année Psychologique_, second year, 1895, p. 380.
Rise of the Study of Olfaction--Cloquet--Zwaardemaker--The Theory of Smell--The Classification of Odors--The Special Characteristics of Olfactory Sensation in Man--Smell as the Sense of Imagination--Odors as Nervous Stimulants--Vasomotor and Muscular Effects--Odorous Substances as Drugs.