218 TRAITS OF FEMALE BEAUTY. 



or hj the Pueblos in their petty wars with the 

 former — and indeed by the Mexicans them- 

 selves — who are generally held in bondage to 

 the age of twenty-one years, and some, from 

 ignorance, their whole lives. Such as resume 

 their hberty intermarry with the race of their 

 masters, becoming Mexican citizens, often uii- 

 distinguishable from many of the alrea 

 dark-hued natives. The present race of New 

 Mexicans has thus become an amalgam, ave- 

 raging about equal i)arts of the European and 

 aboriginal blood. The peasantry, as well 

 from a more general intermixture with the 

 Indian, as from exposure, are the darkest; 

 yet the tawmy complexion pervades all classes 



the rich as well as the poor. 



The females, although many of them are 

 about as broad-featured as the veriest Indian, 

 not unfrequently possess striking traits of 

 beauty. They are remarkable for small feet 

 and handsome figures, notwithstanding their 



profound ignorance of the ' refined art oi 

 lacing. The belles of the ranches and vil- 

 lages have a disgusting habit of besmearing 

 their faces with the crimson juice of a plant 

 or fmit called alegria, which is not imlike 

 blood ; as al-^o with clay and starch. This is 

 not intended, as some travellers have sup- 

 posed, as a beautifpng appendage, but for the 

 purpose of protecting the skin from the sun- 

 A country beauty will often remam in this 

 filthy condition for a whole fortnight, in order 

 to appear to advantage at some favorite feast 

 or ball ; when, by washing off the paint, the 



