Celebrated Women Travellers of the Nineteenth CenturyAdams, W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport)
History
Celebrated Women Travellers of the Nineteenth Century
Adams, W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport)
Women travelers -- Biography
Lady Florence speaks of the features of the pure-bred Tchuelche, or
Patagonian aboriginal as extremely regular, and by no means unpleasant
to look at. "The nose is generally aquiline, the mouth well-shaped and
beautified by the whitest of teeth, the expression of the eye
intelligent, while the form of the whole head indicates the possession
of considerable mental capabilities. But such is not the case with the
Tchuelches in whose veins is a mixture of Fuegian or Araucanian blood.
Of these latter the flat noses, oblique eyes, and badly proportioned
figures excite disgust, and they are as different from a pure-bred
Tchuelche as a racer is from an ordinary cart-horse. Their long coarse
hair is worn parted in the middle, and is prevented from falling over
their faces by means of a handkerchief, or fillet of some kind, bound
round the forehead. They suffer no hair to grow on the face, and some
extract even their eyebrows. Their dress is simple, consisting of a
'chiripa' or piece of cloth round the loins, and the indispensable
guanaco cape, which is hung loosely over the shoulders and held round
the body by the hand, though it would obviously seem more convenient to
have it secured round the waist with a belt of some kind. Their
horse-hide boots are only worn, for reasons of economy, when hunting.
The women dress like the men except as regards the chiripa, instead of
which they wear a loose kind of gown beneath the cape, which they fasten
at the neck with a silver brooch or pin. The children are allowed to run
about naked till they are five or six years old, and are then dressed
like their elders. Partly for ornament, partly also as a means of
protection against the wind, a great many Indians paint their faces,
their favourite colour, as far as I could see, being red, though one or
two I observed had given the preference to a mixture of that colour with
black, a very diabolical appearance being the result of this
combination."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account