PHYSICAL CHARACTER OF INDIANS. 91 



dignified and mysterious manner. By good luck, I 

 had a letter of recommendation from the govern- 

 ment of Buenos Ayres* to the commandant of Pat- 

 agones. This was taken to General Rosas, who 

 sent me a very obliging message ; and the Secre- 

 tary returned all smiles and graciousness. We 

 took up our residence in the rancho, or hovel, of a 

 curious old Spaniard, who had served with Napo- 

 leon in the expedition against Russia. 



We stayed two days at the Colorado; I had lit- 

 tle to do, for the suiTOunding country was a swamp, 

 which in summer (December), when the snow melts 

 on the Cordillera, is overflowed by the river. My 

 chief amusement was watching the Indian families 

 as they came to buy little articles at the rancho 

 where we stayed. It was supposed that General 

 Rosas had about six hundred Indian allies. The 

 men were a tall, fine race, yet it was afterward 

 easy to see in the Fuegian savage the same coun- 

 tenance rendered hideous by cold, want of food, 

 and less civilization. Some authors, in defining 

 the primary races of mankind, have separated these 

 Indians into two classes ; but this is certainly in- 

 correct. Among the young women, or chinas, some 

 deserve to be called even beautiful. Their hair 

 was coarse, but bright and black ; and they wore 

 it in two plaits hanging down to the waist. They 

 had a high colour, and eyes that glistened with 

 brilliancy ; their legs, feet, and arms were small 

 and elegantly formed ; their ankles, and sometimes 

 their waists, were ornamented by broad bracelets 

 of blue beads. Nothing could be more interesting 

 than some of the family groups. A mother with 



* I am bound to express, in the strongest terms, my obligation 

 to the Government of Buenos Ayres for the obliging manner in 

 which passports to all parts of the country were given me, as nat- 

 uralist of the Beagle. 



