THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 139 



middle, and hanging down in long straight locks. The hair 

 of one man only was frizzled into innumerable little curls, 

 which had the effect of making his head appear as of 

 prodigious size. All wore bands of white linen round the 

 upper part of their foreheads. Their faces were very broad 

 across the cheek-bones, and, as a rule, they possessed good 

 features — the men in this respect, however, greatly excelling 

 the women, the nose being in general of a form approaching 

 to aquiline, and the teeth very white and perfect, save that, 

 in most cases, the cusps of the grinders (molars and pre- 

 molars) had disappeared, the upper surface of all the teeth 

 being ground down to a uniform level. Whether this effect 

 was produced by the nature of their diet or by artificial 

 means, I am unable to state. Some of the children were 

 very pretty, and the skin of all, both old and young, was of 

 a dark-brown tint, due in part to nature, but, I suspect, 

 considerably deepened by the scanty extent of theu' ablutions. 

 The dress in both sexes was much the same, consisting of an 

 ample robe formed of guanaco-skins, neatly and strongly 

 sewn together, and worn with the hair innermost. This 

 mantle extended from the neck nearly to the ankles, and was 

 in general confined at the waist by a leather belt. Around 

 the shoulders of the men the robe was generally folded 

 without any fastening, being merely held together by one 

 hand ; but, in the case of the women, it was fastened 

 together by two large, more or less ornamented, gilt pins. 

 In addition to this general covering they possessed buskins 

 of horse-skin, which covered the feet and ankles like boots, 

 extending about half-way to the knee. In the neighbourhood 

 of the tents their steeds were pastured ; and a large pack of 

 ugly dogs, of different sorts and sizes, roamed about, and 

 were very unsociable, keeping up a constant barking at us. 



