Indian types of beauty

by Robert W. Shufeldt

Were it not for the slight cynical expression this face wears, when its features are at rest, there is much in it we could see to admire, for it is thoroughly expressive of the Indian mother, and its various parts are by no means homely. Anserino is a much better looking woman, when engaged in an animated conversation, but we cannot get that in her picture. It will be seen that she is very fond of ornamental trinkets, and a massive chain of beads are hung about her neck, while large silver ornaments and beads are attached to the loopings at her shoulder, and to her waist-sash. Often these beads are of native turquoise, purchased from the Zunians, or obtained in exchange for Navajo blankets, from the same tribe. Now Anserino belongs to a race, wherein the women work as hard as the men; they live much out of doors, and in a climate where the summers are hot, but a few severe months of cold weather occur every winter. At night they may sleep in one of their conical “hogans” or lodges, which, as a rule, are badly ventilated and not one of the most favorable factors that in historic time has assisted to produce a race, where we may often find beautiful Indian women. They are the greatest and best of all the blanket weavers among our indigenous tribes; and some of the men work in silver and iron. The ornaments worn by Anserino, in the cut, are of Navajo manufacture. The Navajos also have their peculiar form of government; their priesthood and religious rites; their songs and their simple arts, and are wealthy in many instances in the possession of great herds of sheep. I simply mention these matters briefly in order to show the native phase of civilization to which this woman belongs. Both this civilization and tribe are old, very old, and it is interesting to see the kind of men and women it has produced. A very different and far more attractive style of beauty is seen in one of the daughters of Puebla of Laguna (Fig. 2). Tzashima, of whom we present an illustration, is an Indian beauty in every sense of the word. She has a fine, rather tall figure, and her carriage is good; as with all Indians, however, almost without exception her feet and hands are rather large, though this, not a defect in the eyes of many, in no way detracts from the peculiar beauty of her face. Her hair is as black and as glossy as a raven’s wing, and at the dances she wears it in a rich, unbridled downfall, as far as the waist behind, while in front it is cut off at the sides, so as to be on the level of the neck; it is parted in the middle in front, as seen in the illustration. The forehead is rather contracted but not too low, and surmounts a face smooth and oval to a fault. Her brows are very broad, and support fine eyebrows of a jetty blackness. A very slight obliquity, far less than we see in the Mongolian, characterizes her eyelids, and these shield a gorgeous pair of Indian eyes that, Tzashima very well knows, are the rivals of her hair in their inky tints. For an Indian, her nose is exquisite in its proportions, and might stand almost for a perfect model of this defining feature of the face. Her lips are finely arched, though the mouth is rather large, while the elegantly rounded chin, moderately prominent in its contour, fades gently away at the lower sides of the face, and as we mount upward we are struck with the high cheek bones, which, in due keeping, mar not the just balancing of the features of the face of this Pueblan beauty. In tint, her skin is of a pale mahogany, much lighter than that of the Navajo women already described. Her jacket and sash become her well, as does the barbaric silver necklace, and mass of beads she wears about her neck. Heavy silver bracelets surround her wrists, and nearly every finger has its one or more great silver rings.

Fig. 2. A BELLE OF THE LAGUNA PUEBLA.

The nature of the civilization that has produced this woman is quite different from that of which the Navajo, Anserino, was the outcome. Pueblo Indians in their civilization possess much in common; they are sedentary types, and their history extends far, far back into time. They occupy in Arizona and New Mexico, in our day, not far isolated groups, of what may be called agglomerations of rubble sandstone houses laid in mud and piled one upon another, with narrow streets among them. These remnants of a departing nation are in some instances found huddled together upon some plain, near a river’s bank, as in the case of Zuni and others; or they may cap some rocky crag, a young rugged mountain, with sides precipitous, as in the case of Wolapi. Much in the crude philosophy, the mythology, and opinions of these people is wise and beautiful; and much there is, too, that is low and debasing and richly tinctured with the more degraded myths of savagery. These several Pueblan groups have their governments most peculiar, and they, too, as a people have produced their agriculturists, their warriors, their workers in silver and iron, their manufacturers of clay pottery, and weavers of blankets; and those that have followed the simpler industrial arts.

Fig. 3. THE DAUGHTER OF PALIWAHTIWA, GOVERNOR OF ZUNI.

Many of their religious rites have descended through generations from ages quite remote, ages wherein the rootlets of this civilization were nurtured in rank paganism. Some of their ideas partake strongly of the poetic, while others pass into lascivious channels. Their many and varied songs are stamped alike with both these characters.

As for the status of the women in one of these Pueblos, nowadays, suffice it to say that they grow up in the traditions of their people; are dealt with on a basis of crude justice by the men; marry and rear their children; and are the workers in the household; have little or nothing to do with the government of the tribe, but engage in some of the dances. They are the adepts at blanket weaving, and the manufacture of pottery. Briefly stated then, it is out of a civilization of this kind, that a woman, the type of which is seen in Tzashima, has been evolved.

Passing from Laguna to Zuni, a Pueblo that I have personally visited and studied, the style of women seems to change very materially, for it is difficult there to find a woman that can lay any claim to being beautiful—that is in my eyes.

To present an illustration of the style of their young women, I here offer a portrait of the daughter of Paliwahtiwa, the Governor of Zuni, several years ago (Fig. 3). This girl is just approaching womanhood, and is a very good type of what a Zunian would consider to be a young belle. It will be seen that she has a good figure, and is of a very much darker skin than Tzashima of Laguna. Her heavy head of hair is, as usual, jetty black, and she parts it upon the left side, cutting it off lateralwise on the level with the lips. It almost gives the upper part of the face the appearance of being set in a massive frame, thus adding materially to the stolid and oldish cast of her countenance. The deep black eyes, entirely devoid of any obliquity, are placed wide apart, and their lids are inclined to be thick and heavy. They are surrounded by broad eyebrows having the same glossy shades as her hair. Suboval in outline, this girl’s face is completed by moderately high cheekbones only; a nose that suggests a lack of fine chiseling; and a mouth devoid of very much character.