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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This Paint Is Called In The Carib Tongue, Bichet.) Their
Tall Figures, Of A Reddish Copper-Colour, And Their Picturesque
Drapery, When Seen From A Distance, Relieved Against The Sky As A
Background, Resemble Antique Statues Of Bronze.
The men cut their hair
in a very peculiar manner, very much in the style of the monks.
A part
of the forehead is shaved, which makes it appear extremely high, and a
circular tuft of hair is left near the crown of the head. This
resemblance between the Caribs and the monks is not the result of
mission life. It is not caused, as had been erroneously supposed, by
the desire of the natives to imitate their masters, the Franciscan
monks. The tribes that have preserved their wild independence, between
the sources of the Carony and the Rio Branco, are distinguished by the
same cerquillo de frailes,* (* Circular tonsure of the friars.) which
the early Spanish historians at the time of the discovery of America
attributed to the nations of the Carib race. All the men of this race
whom we saw either during our voyage on the Lower Orinoco, or in the
missions of Piritu, differ from the other Indians not only in the
tallness of their stature, but also in the regularity of their
features. Their noses are smaller, and less flattened; the cheek-bones
are not so high; and their physiognomy has less of the Mongol
character. 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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