Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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Their Eyes, Which Are Darker Than Those Of The Other Hordes
Of Guiana, Denote Intelligence, And It May Even Be Said, The Habit Of
Reflection.
The Caribs have a gravity of manner, and a certain look of
sadness which is observable among most of the primitive inhabitants of
the New World.
The expression of severity in their features is
heightened by the practice of dyeing their eyebrows with the juice of
caruto: they also lengthen their eyebrows, thereby giving them the
appearance of being joined together; and they often mark their faces
all over with black spots to give themselves a more fierce appearance.
The Carib women are less robust and good-looking than the men, On them
devolves almost the whole burden of domestic work, as well as much of
the out-door labour. They asked us eagerly for pins, which they stuck
under their lower lip, making the head of the pin penetrate deeply
into the skin. The young girls are painted red, and are almost naked.
Among the different nations of the old and the new worlds, the idea of
nudity is altogether relative. A woman in some parts of Asia is not
permitted to show the tips of her fingers; while an Indian of the
Carib race is far from considering herself unclothed if she wear round
her waist a guajuco two inches broad. Even this band is regarded as
less essential than the pigment which covers the skin. To go out of
the hut without being painted, would be to transgress all the rules of
Carib decency.
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