102 MANNERS OF THE CHAYMAS. 



CHAP. IX. fi kind of cotton gown scarcely reaching to the knees. 

 . — The dress of tlie men lias sleeves, while that of the 

 women and hoys has none, the arms, shoulders, and 

 upper part of the breast l)eing uncovered. Till the age 

 of nine the twirls are allowed to go to church naked. 

 The missionaries complain that the feeling of modesty is 

 very little known to the vounger of the sex. The women 

 are not handsome ; but the maidens have a kind of plea- 

 sant melancholy in their looks. No instances of natural 

 deformity occurred to the travellers. Humboldt re- 

 Customs and iiiarks, that deviations from nature are exceedingly rare 

 habits of life, among certain races of men, especially such as have the 

 skin highly coloured, — an effect which he does not ascribe 

 solely to a luxurious life or the corruption of morals 

 but lather imagines that the immunity enjoyed by the 

 American Indians arises from hereditary organization. 

 The custom of marrying at a very early age, which 

 depends upon the same circumstance, is stated to be no 

 way detrimental to population. It occurs in the most 

 northern parts of the continent <as well as in the warmest, 

 and therefore is not dependent upon climate. 



They have naturally very little hair on the chin, and 

 the little that appears is carefully plucked out. This 

 thinness of the beard is common to the American race, 

 although there are tribes, such as tlie Chipeways and 

 the Patagonians, in which it assumes respectable di- 

 mensions. 

 Koffularity of '^''"'' Chaymas lead a very regular and uniform life, 

 life. They go to bed at seven and rise at half after four. 



The inside of their huts is kept very clean, and theii 

 hammocks, utensils, and weapons, are arranged in the 

 greatest order. They bathe every day, and, being gene- 

 rally naked, are thus exempted from the filth principally 

 caused by clothing. Besides their cabin in the village, 

 they usually,have a smaller one, covered with palm or 

 j)lantain leaves, in some solitary place in tlie woods, to 

 which they retire as often as they can ; and so strong is 

 the desire among them of enjoying the pleasures of 

 savage life, that the children sometimes wander entire 



