206 Idle Days in Patagonia. 
in it—the tortoiseshell eye and chief glory of the 
negro woman. Another surprising fact was the 
large proportion of fine eyes. For this variety and 
excellence several explanations might be given, 
not one of which would probably seem quite satis- 
factory ; I therefore leave the reader to form his 
own theory on the subject. 
In the lower class no such difficulty appeared. 
Here, in a very large majority of cases—about 
eighty per cent. I think—the eye was grey, or grey- 
blue, but seldom pure. The impurity was caused 
by a small quantity of pigment, as I could generally 
see by looking closely at the iris, a yellowish tinge 
being visible round the pupil. My conclusion was, 
that this impure grey eye is the typical British eye 
at the present time; that it is becoming pigmented, 
and will probably, if the race endures long enough, 
become dark. 
