Indian types of beauty

by Robert W. Shufeldt

Fig. 4. A ZUNIAN WOMAN OF ADVANCED AGE.

She wears but little jewelry, such ornament being confined to a chain of large silver beads, bearing the usual double crescent below, and worn about her neck; on the last three fingers of her left hand are some heavy silver rings. A blanket skirt coming down to the knees, and girded at the waist by a sash, with a blanket thrown over her shoulders, constitutes her principal attire. A pair of plain moccasins cover her feet, and a buckskin bandage, wrapped round and round, in spiral turns, either leg below the knee.

After the bearing of one child, Zunian women seem to part forever with all the beauty they ever possessed, and in old age they become very ugly and exceedingly masculine in their cast of countenances. They still continue at that age to wear their hair as they did in their girlhood, and even their costume is quite similar, as may be seen in the portrait I am here enabled to give of a Zunian woman that has passed the sixties.

I have never met this Indian, but I believe I am correct in stating that she is the wife of the governor, and so, mother of the Zunian girl whose description we have just given (Fig. 4).

As rich and as romantic a field as is the study of the Pueblo of Zuni for the ethnologist, the group of Moquian Pueblos are, in many particulars, even still more so. Their system of agriculture is exceedingly interesting, as are their peculiar notions of architecture, and all the habits of these remarkable people. Moreover, their strange history, as a nation, reaches far back into time, and their knowledge of it is largely traditional, all of which adds to the zest of investigation. The very country they inhabit, Arizona, is filled with romance for the student, and overflows with material for the archæologist.

Moquis have strange religious rites and ceremonies; unique dances, such as their snake dance; a curious government, and social definitions. They also stand among the most skillful of blanket weavers and pottery manufacturers; and a great many of their household utensils are made by them, as are all varieties of savage jewelry, trinkets, toys, and other objects. Comparatively little of their inner home life is as yet known to science, and in some particulars they are slowly changing before the advance guard of our own civilization. But let us turn our attention to one of the young maidens of this tribe, and the one shown in the figure has been chosen for her savage beauty (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5. A GIRL OF MOQUI.

Prior to marriage, one of these girls, as may be seen, does up her hair in the most extraordinary manner; it is parted in the middle, combed out at the sides, and then done up over slender twigs carefully wrapped with woolen yarn, into two great whorls, one standing out upon either side of the head immediately above the ears. In front of this a lock hangs down over the temple and side of the face. This latter is a true oval, and its various features combine to make it bright and intelligent. The brows are arched, the nose well shapen, the cheekbones by no means prominent; and, indeed, upon the whole the face may be said to be quite a pretty one. They do not wear near as much jewelry as do the Navajos, while in most respects their costume agrees with the Zuni girls; but our Moqui maiden is more prone to go about barefooted, and often neglects to wear the leggins of buckskin, so characteristic of both Navajos and Zunians alike. These Moqui girls marry young, often at ten years of age, and they are monogamists. Bourke, in his wonderfully interesting work upon these people, says: “Boys and girls of advanced age roam unconcernedly through the streets of the different towns, especially of those farthest to the west, in a condition repugnant to our notions of modesty and delicacy. The traveler among the Moquis learns as much of the customs of the Garden of Eden, in respect to dress, as he is ever likely to in any other part of the world.”