HUTS. DRESS. 533 



carried from place to place in all their travelling excursions. 

 Having reached their bivouac, and marked out a place with 

 due regard to shelter from the wind, they dig holes with a 

 piece of pointed hard wood, to receive the posts : and all the 

 frame and cover being ready, it takes but a short time to 

 erect a dwelling."* 



They have no pottery, and for carrying water the only 

 vessels they use are bladders. Their dress consists princi- 

 pally of skins, sewn together with ostrich sinews, and often 

 curiously painted on one side ; but, according to Falkner,f 

 some of the tribes " make or weave fine mantles of woollen 

 yarn, beautifully dyed with many colours. They have also a 

 small triangular apron, two corners of which are tied round 

 the waist, while the third passes between the legs and is 

 fastened behind. When on horseback they use a kind of 

 poncho or mantle, with a slit in the middle, through which 

 they put their head. For boots they wear the " skin of the 

 thighs and legs of mares and colts;" they clean the skins, 

 and then, after drying, soften with grease, and so put them 

 on without either shaping or sewing.j They make brushes 

 of grass, twigs, and rushes, and use the jaw of a porpoise 

 for a comb. The women wear a mantle, fastened across the 

 breast by a wooden skewer, or pin, and tied round the waist. 

 They have also a kind of apron which reaches down to their 

 knees, but which only covers them in front. Their boots 

 are made in the same way as those of the men. Like other 

 savages, they are fond of beads, feathers, and other ornaments. 

 They also paint themselves with red, black, and white, which, 

 however, to European eyes is anything but an improvement. 

 Their defensive armour consists of a helmet and a shield, both 



* Fitzroy, 1. c. vol. i. p. 93. purpose, and it was on account of 



t Falkner's Patagonia, p. 128. these shoes that Magellan called 



| When first visited they used them " Patagonians." 



the skin of the guanaco for this Fitzroy, vol. i. p. 75. 



