ROADSIDE SKETCHES IN GUATEMALA 105 



fastened there by one end being tucked in under the other ; it 

 reaches nearly to the ankles, and fits very tightly round the legs. 

 The "huipeel," a very loose chemise, covers the upper part of 

 the body. This is cut very low in the neck, has short sleeves, is 

 made of cotton, and confined to the waist by the petticoat and 

 by a narrow girdle (" cinturon ") wound several times round the 

 body. Some women wear either across the shoulders or over 

 the head a long narrow shawl ("peraje") of various colours, 

 fringed at the ends. Lastly, there is an apron, and the bright 

 coloured ribbons which every woman wears plaited into the two 

 long curls, which either hang down the back or are twisted like 

 a coronet round the head. The hair itself, coarse, straight, and 

 black, is parted in the centre and behind. Necklets of coloured 

 beads often intermixed with silver coins, and rings for the 

 fingers and ears complete the outfit. Women rarely wear 

 sandals, men always ; the ladies do not use handkerchiefs, the 

 sterner sex does. Not only does the colouring of the petticoat 

 vary in the different villages, but that of the girdle, chemise, 

 and apron also. The girdle is stoutly woven of cotton and 

 generally white, with red, black or blue longitudinal stripes ; 

 the chemise, made of coarse white cotton, is nearly always em- 

 broidered with variously coloured thread, in some cases to such 

 an extent and with so much skill that it becomes a real work of 

 art. The thread is imported, but worked on to the huipeel 

 in most elaborate designs, often of flowers, of birds and other 

 animals, by the women themselves in the villages, according to 

 the particular fashion which has there been in vogue, it may be, 

 for centuries. The most beautiful chemises which we saw were 

 made with blue and red thread so thickly laid on that over the 

 chest and back almost none of the white remained visible ; others 

 were less elaborately embroidered in red, blue, green or yellow, 

 in a great variety of designs, floss silk being used further to set 

 off the various patterns. Thus a well-dressed Indian woman is 

 very picturesque, and lends great interest by her bright appear- 

 ance to the market scene, already so full of colour, thanks to 

 the endless variety of fruit and vegetables with which the 

 ground is covered. The men are much more soberly clad in 

 rough homespun cloth, which is woven in the villages on very 

 primitive looms, and they nearly always carry over their shoulder a 

 blanket of the same material their only bed, mattress, and sheet. 



