232 



distinguished themselves from the married wo- 

 men, either, as Cardinal Bern bo asserts*, by 

 being quite naked, or, according to Gomara^, 

 by the colour of the guayuco. This bandage, 

 which is still in use among the Chaymas, and 

 all the naked nations of the Oroonoko, is only 

 two or three inches broad, and is tied on both 

 sides to a string, that encircles the middle of 

 the body. The girls are often married at the 

 age of twelve years ; until nine the missionaries 

 allow them to go to church naked, that is to 

 say without a tunic. I need not repeat here, 

 that among the Chaymas, as well as in all the 

 Spanish Missions and the Indian villages, which 

 I have visited, a pair of drawers, or shoes, or a 

 hat, are objects of luxury unknown to the natives. 

 A servant, who had been with us during our 

 journey to Caripe and the Oroonoko, and whom 

 I brought to France, was so much struck on 

 landing, when he saw the ground tilled by a 

 peasant with a hat on, that he thought himself 

 in a miserable country, where even the nobles 

 (los mismos caballeros) followed the plough. 

 The Chayma women are not handsome, ac- 



* See the eloquent description of America, in the History 

 of Venice (Book 12). " Feminas virum passae nullam par- 

 tem, praeter muliebria; virgines ne illam quidem tegebant." 



+ Las donzellas se conocen en el color y tamano del cor- 

 del, y traerlo asi, es senal certissima de virginidad. (Goma- 

 ra, cap. 73, p. 96) . 



