Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/283

Rh universal; and while some of the men are altogether destitute of beard, others have a moderate proportion, and not unfrequently wear mustachios. An expression of countenance in which cunning and melancholy are singularly blended, gives a mysterious air to every look and movement,—but no symptom of ferocity is observable. The women generally look older than they really are, and are mostly given to volubility. The men on the other hand, excepting when under the influence of intoxication, are very silent, and do not show their years on the countenance. Some of them attain a very considerable age; and although the hair with the greater number does not change with years, I have seen instances where it has become nearly white. Their limbs are mostly nervous, and their bodily shape somewhat square and short. Although incapable of violent effort, they possess a toughness which enables them to endure fatigues that would soon kill the stoutest European. The loads they carry over the mountains for the most trifling remuneration, are truly surprising.

But with all this capacity for endurance, the want of fire and a manly spirit, often makes them appear exceedingly pusillanimous. It is by no means uncommon to see them after a quarrel, weeping like children over the slightest wound,—while their timidity in any time of public alarm