M'Reevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 40 



clearly that the Americans have naturally beards, and just as 

 abundant as we find it amongst Europeans : that it is a very 

 general custom with them$ as it has teen with several Mor- 

 golian and Malay tribes, carefully to eradicate this excres- 

 cence ; but that various tribes, in different parts of the conti- 

 nent, preserve it as other men do. 



Gmelin found this practice to exist in Africa: " It is not 

 easy," he says, " to find a Zungoone, nor any man of the 

 neighbouring tribes, with a beard ; for they extract the hairs 

 as soon as they appear, and repeat the process until at last no 

 more are formed.' ' 



The same circumstance is reported of the Sumatrans, by 

 Marsden ; of the Mindanao islanders, by Forrest ; of the 

 Pellew islanders, by Wilson; of the inhabitants of New Guinea, 

 by Cartaret ; and of those of Navigators' Isles, by Bougain- 

 ville. I may add to this evidence, the testimonies of the ce- 

 lebrated navigator Captain Cook ; as also that of the most 

 scientific traveller of ancient and modern times, the celebrated 

 Humboldt. Captain Cook, speaking of the inhabitants of 

 Nootka Sound, says, " Some have no beards at all, and others 

 only a thin one on the point of the chin. This does not arise 

 from a deficiency of hair in these parts, but from their pluck- 

 ing it out by the roots ; for those who do not destroy it, have 

 not only considerable beards on every part of the chin, but 

 also whiskers, or mustachios, running from the upper lip to 

 the lower jaw, obliquely downwards." 



Humboldt, speaking of the South Americans, remarks, 

 " The Mexicans, I have observed, particularly those of the 

 Aztee and Otomite races, have more beard than ever I saw in 

 any other Indians of South America. In the neighbourhood 

 of the capital, almost all the Indians wear mustachios." And 

 again, " I can affirm, that the Indians who inhabit the Torrid 

 Zone of South America have generally some beard ; and that 

 the beard increases when they shave themselves." 



The females, or squaws, as they are generally called, differ 

 considerably both in person and features from the men. In- 

 stead of being tall, robust, and long-visaged, they are. on the 

 contrary, short, small-boned, with the face approaching more 

 to the rounded form. The colour of the hair is the same in 

 both ; the women, however, pay more attention to its being 

 combed smooth behind, so as to flow loose about their shoul- 

 ders ; in front, it is very neatly divided, so as to give a full 

 view of the forehead. They, for the most part, have an ex- 

 pression of mildness and sweetness in their looks. The com- 

 mon dress of the men, in summer, consists of an English 

 blanket thrown loosely round their shoulders; under this a 



VOYAGES and TRAVELS, No. 2. Vol. If. H 



