Buffon's Natural History. Volume 04 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 04 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
The natives of Georgia are of a more refined extraction than those of
Cashmire. In the whole of that country we find not an ugly face; and
the women enjoy from Nature graces superior to those of any other race.
They are tall and well-shaped; their waist is exceedingly delicate,
and their faces are truly charming. The men are also very handsome;
and, from their natural ingenuity, were it not counteracted by a
wretched education, which renders them ignorant and vicious, they might
successfully cultivate the arts and sciences. In no country whatever,
perhaps, are libertinism and drunkenness carried to so great a pitch as
in Georgia. Chardin says, that even the clergy are exceedingly addicted
to wine; that, in the character of slaves, they retain a number
of concubines, and that at this custom, as being general and even
authorised, no person takes offence. He adds, that the prefect of the
Capuchins assured him, that the Patriarch of Georgia publicly declares,
that he who, at the grand festivals, as those of Easter and Christmas,
does not get drunk, is unworthy to be called a Christian, and ought to
be excommunicated. With all their vices the Georgians are a civil and
humane people, little subject to passion, but irreconcileable enemies
when provoked, and have conceived an antipathy.
"The women of Circassia," says Struys, "are also exceedingly fair and
beautiful. Their complexion has the finest tints, their forehead is
large and smooth, and, without the aid of art, their eye-brows are so
delicate, that they appear as curved threads of silk. Their eyes are
large, expressive, and full of fire; their noses finely shaped, and
their lips perfect vermilion; their mouths are small, and constantly
expressive of smiles, and their chins form the termination of a perfect
oval. Their necks and breasts are admirably formed; their stature is
tall, and the shape of their body easy; their skin is white as snow,
and their hair of the most beautiful black. They wear a little black
stuff cap, over which is fastened a roller of the same colour; but,
what is truly ridiculous, the widows, instead of this roller, wear
the bladder of an ox, or a cow, blown out as much as possible, which
disfigures them amazingly. In summer the inferior classes wear nothing
but a shift, which is open down to the middle, and is generally blue,
yellow, or red. Though tolerably familiar with strangers, they are
faithful to their husbands, who are by no means jealous of them."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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