284 ON THE FRONTIER. 



reverse, would be solely a matter of taste, or want of it. 

 Take for example a pug-dog. I think nothing uglier goes 

 on four legs, but I have seen a fair young creature take one 

 of them in her arms, hug it, and calling it a "perfect 

 beauty," kiss the little monster. I would sooner have 

 kissed a lizard ; it would not have been so olfactorally 

 objectionable, and to me much less ugly. Now take a 

 pearl; certainly there are prettier things than pearls, yet 

 where is there a difference of opinion as to a pearl having 

 some beauty ? The savage of the lowest grade wears it as 

 an ornament, thinking therefrom to receive reflected beauty ; 

 so does the proudest lady in Christendom. The beauty of 

 a pearl, such as it is, is absolute, beyond doubt. I should 

 like to describe this belle of Acapulco, but find the task a 

 difficult one. It is indeed quite out of my line to descant 

 on female loveliness. I have had no practice, for I do not 

 care about describing beauties to my male acquaintances, 

 but prefer to let them find out handsome women for them- 

 selves ; and as to doing so to other females no. I may not 

 Jsnow much, but I do know too much for that. However, 

 as there are exceptions to every rule, I will "try a stagger " 

 at depicting her. She stood at the upper end of the room, 

 the top lady in a cotillion set just formed ; in height five 

 feet three, and rather fully developed in figure. Her com- 

 plexion, for a mestizo's and mestizo she certainly was 

 extremely fair; while her skin had a creamy softness of 

 texture, a warmth of delicate colouring, a rich shading of 

 neutral tints that were most charming ; the complexion, of 

 the "blue blood of Castile," and the high arch to the 

 instep of her dainty little feet, the small taper tips of her 



