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addition of a half petticoat, made of skins, if they cannot procure
foreign coarse cloth. They clean their hair, and divide
it into two tails, which are platted, and hang down, one on each
side. Ornaments of beads, bits of brass, or silver, or any
similar trifles, are much prized, and worn in necklaces, or as
bracelets; sometimes also as ear-rings, or round their ankles.
Mounted upon horses of an inferior size, avertiging only about
fourteen hands and a half in height, though rather well-bred,
the Patagonians seem to be carried no better than the full-
accoutred dragoons, who rode eighteen stone upon horses equal
to twelve ; yet those horses, so slight in comparison with their
masters, carry them at full speed in chase of ostriches or guanacoes;
and we all know what our dragoon horses have done under
their heavily-weighted, but determined riders. With bridles of
hide tied to the lower jaw, when there is not a Spanish bit, and
a light saddle of wood, covered with some skins and placed
upon others, a Patagonian rides hard when there is occasion—
but frequently changes his horse. Many large dogs, of a
rough, lurcher-like breed, assist them in hunting, and keep an
excellent watch at night. (Note at end of Chapter V III.)
The toldos (huts) of these wanderers are in shape not unlike
gipsy tents. Poles are stuck in the ground, to which others
are fastened, and skins of animals, sewed together, form the
covering, so that an irregular tilt-shaped hut is thus made.
Three sides and the top are covered; but the front, turned
towai-ds the east, is open. These toldos are about seven feet
high, and ten or twelve feet square ; they are lower at the
back, or western side, than in front, by several feet. These
are their ordinary dwellings; of other rather larger constructions
a description will be given hereafter.
The country inhabited by these Patagonians is open and,
generally speaking, rather level, but with occasional hills and
some extensive ranges of level-topped heights (steppes). There
are very few trees, and water is scarce. The eye wanders over
an apparently boundless extent of parched, yellow-looking
semi-desert, where rain* seldom falls, and the sky is almost
* Except during a few days in each year, or perhaps at intervals of
two or three years, when it pours down in torrents.
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