Page:The Perfumed Garden - Burton - 1886.djvu/98

82 arms or over his shoulders; he then takes her round the waist, or seizes her shoulders.

The preceding descriptions furnish a large number of procedures that cannot well be all put to the proof; but with such a variety to choose from, the man who finds one of them difficult to practise can easily find plenty of others more to his convenience.

I have not made mention of positions which appeared to me to be impossible to realize, and if there be anybody who thinks that those which I have described are not exhaustive he has only to look for new ones.

It cannot be gainsaid that the Indians have surmounted the greatest difficulties in respect to coition. As a grand exploit, originating with them, the following may be cited:

"The woman being stretched out on her back, the man sits down on her chest with his back turned to her face, his knees turned forward and his nails gripping the ground; he then raises her hips, arching her back until he has brought her vulva to face with his member, which he then inserts, and thus gains his purpose."

This position, as you perceive, is very fatiguing and very difficult to attain. I even believe that the only realization of it consists in words and designs. With regard to the other methods, as described above, they can only be practised if both man and woman are free from physical defects, and of analogous construction; for instance, one or the other of them must not be humpbacked or very little, or very tall, or too fat. And I repeat, that both must be in perfect health.

I shall now treat of the coition between two persons of different conformation. I shall particularize the positions that will suit them in treating each of them severally.