CUSTOMS AND MANNERS. 



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of a different sex, beautiful as a goddess, or more than a god- 

 dess, if that be possible. Her long and black hair was con- 

 fined by small and numerous tresses ; it scarcely flowed with 

 freedom on the shoulders, and there, forming graceful ring- 

 lets, played with the wind, or with the motions of the body. 

 Her eyes were black and piercing. Her eye-brows, of the 

 same colour, regular, and thickly planted, set off to still 

 greater advantage the perfe6l whiteness of her face : — of a face 

 which appeared to me so beautiful, and so divine, that the 

 Peruvian ladies alone could vie with her in symmetry of fea- 

 tures. The arms, well turned, full, and delicate, terminated 

 in hands of equal perfedlion. The other parts of the body re- 

 mained concealed in the dense substance of the cloud, so as to 

 prevent me from ascertaining, by the particulars of her dress, 

 the nation and country to which this prodigy of beauty might 

 belong. 



Without being able to contain myself, I said to the old 

 man, my guide : " If you and Astrea be just and dispas- 

 sionate judges, you cannot deny to Eugenia the tith which 

 sheclaims, of possessing an incomparable assemblage of graces." 

 — Ah ! inexperienced youth," replied the scrupulous elder ; 

 " enraptured youth, thy admiration would be just, if all the 

 beauties thou vie west were inherent and natural, and were not 

 counterbalanced by afFe6lation and imposture. Observe atten- 

 tively : that white which surprizes thee so much, is a thin 

 coat of arsenic or white lead, laid on with art, and in a man- 

 ner glued to the skin. This is a despicable custom in any other 

 nation ; but, among the countrywomen of Eugenia, it is ab- 

 solutely criminal, seeing that, by its adoption, they injure and 

 tarnish their natural whiteness, that surprizing whiteness which 



G g 2 excites 



