I
Simon de Bolivar was about five feet six inches in height, lean of limb and body. His cheek bones stood out prominently in an oval-shaped face, which tapered sharply towards the chin.
His countenance was vivacious; but his skin was furrowed with wrinkles and tanned by exposure to a tropical sun. The curly black hair that once covered Bolivar’s head in luxuriant profusion, began to turn white about 1821. Thenceforth, he was accustomed to wear his hair short.
His nose was long and aquiline. Flexible, sensual lips were often shaded by a thick mustache; while whiskers covered a part of his face. In 1822, Bolivar’s large, black, penetrating eyes, “with the glance of an eagle,” were losing their remarkable brilliancy. At that time, Bolivar had also lost some of the animation, energy, and extraordinary agility which had distinguished him in youth and early manhood. Even the casual observer judged him to be many years older than he really was, so sick and weary did he appear....
A man of many moods, jovial, talkative, taciturn, gloomy, he changed swiftly from sunshine to storm.
William Spence Robertson (Condensed)