HUTS. DRESS. 429 



procured, are carried from place to place in all their 

 travelling excursions. Having reached their bivouac, and 

 marked out a place with due regard to shelter from the 

 wind, they dig holes with a piece of pointed hard wood, 

 to receive the posts : and all the frame and cover being ready 

 it takes but a short time to erect a dwelling/' * 



They have no pottery, and for carrying water the only 

 vessels they use are bladders. Their dress consists princi- 

 pally of skins, sewn together with ostrich sinews, and 

 often curiously painted on one side ; but according to 

 Falkner,t some of the tribes "make or weave fine man- 

 tles of woollen yarn, beautifully dyed with many colours/' 

 They have also a small triangular apron, two corners 

 of which are tied round the waist, while the third passes 

 between the legs and is fastened behind. "When on 

 horseback they use a kind of poncho, or mantle, with a slit 

 in the middle, through which they put their head. For 

 boots they wear the " skin of the thighs and legs of mares 

 and colts;" they clean the skins, and then, after drying, soften 

 with grease, and so put them on without either shaping or 

 sewing, f They make brushes of grass, twigs, and rushes, and 

 use the jaw of a porpoise for a comb. The women wear a 

 mantle, fastened across the breast by a wooden skewer, or 

 pin, and tied round the waist. They have also a kind 

 of apron which reaches down to their knees, but which only 

 covers them in front. Their boots are made in the same way 

 as those of the men. Like other savages, they are fond of 

 beads, feathers, and other ornaments. They also paint them- 

 selves with red, black, and white, which however to European 

 eyes is anything but an improvement. Their defensive 



* Fitzroy, I.e. vol. i., p. 93. and it was on account of these shoes 



f Falkner's Patagonia, p. 128. that Magellan called them "Patago- 



} "When first visited they used the nians." 



skin of the guanaco for this purpose, Fitzroy, vol. i., p. 75. 



