THEIR MANNERS. 



101 



stance of their only marrying in their own tribe, as 

 well as to their inferior degree of intellectual im- 

 provement ; the differences between uncivilized and 

 cultivated man being similar to those between wild 

 and domesticated animals of the same species. 



As they live in a very warm country, they are ex- 

 cessively averse to clothing. In spite of the remon- 

 strances of the monks, men and women remain naked 

 while within their houses ; and, when they go out, 

 wear only a kind of cotton gown scarcely reaching 

 to the knees. The dress' of the men has sleeves, 

 while that of the women and boys has none ; the 

 arms, shoulders, and upper part of the breast being 

 uncovered. Till the age of nine the girls are allowed 

 to go to church naked. The missionaries complain 

 that the feeling of modesty is very little known to 

 the younger of the sex. The women are not hand- 

 some ; but the maidens have a kind of pleasant mel- 

 ancholy in their looks. No instances of natural de- 

 formity occurred to the travellers. Humboldt re- 

 marks, that deviations from nature are exceedingly 

 rare among certain races of men, especially such as 

 have the skin highly coloured ; an effect which he 

 does not ascribe solely to a luxurious life or the cor- 

 ruption of morals, but rather imagines that the im- 

 munity enjoyed by the American Indians arises from 

 hereditary organization. The custom of marrying 

 at a very early age, which depends upon the same 

 circumstance, is stated to be no way detrimental to 

 population. It occurs in the most northern parts 

 of the continent as well as in the warmest, and 

 therefore is not dependent upon climate. 



They have naturally very little hair on the chin, 

 and the little that appears is carefully plucked out. 

 This thinness of the beard is common to the Ameri- 

 can race, although there are tribes, such as the 

 Chipeways and the Patagonians, in which it assumes 

 respectable dimensions. 



The Chaymas lead a very regular and uniform 

 12 



