TAPADAS,
Is the provincial term by which women wearing the white flannel, or baize Mantilla, drawn close over the face (as represented in the right hand figure), are designated. The real signification of the word indicates that they are covered or concealed. It is the usual out door habiliment of women of the middling rank in the principal places of the island, and is even worn by ladies in those of the interior: by these it is always used over a black silk or bombazeen gown; by the first mentioned it is worn with their ordinary dress or with a petticoat of stuff of English manufacture. When gracefully put on by a well-made and well-dressed female, it is in the highest degree becoming: and being closed over the face in such a manner as only to leave an aperture large enough to discover a pair of piercing black eyes, shaded by the long projecting point of the Mantilla, gives to the whole appearance of the wearer a sort of mystery well calculated to attract attention and curiosity.
This dress is frequently assumed by the higher class as an incognito on shopping and other parties. On those occasions the Mantilla is worn in the manner of the right hand figure.
