Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/175

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  • 164 HOW INDIANS "don't" DKISSS.

the deposed king of New Spain. Another reason for 'Alonso beingr so popular was tiie fact that he was the 'youngest man of the small army of soldiers, as well as the most handsome. The men thought him well- i proportioned, and the young maidens looked upon

him with a rapturous expression upon their painted

countenances. y Although the females were barbarians, yet they ■were more modest than one would suppose. They must not be described as "refined, educated women"; ,but of the women, generally, Coronado says: "The j women are well proportioned and their features are < more like Moorish women than Indians; they do not hanre doaks, nor cotton of which to make them, but use the skims of the cattle they kill, which they tan, b^ng: settled among the cattle on a very large river." It ia hard to describe the garments worn by the femaleain the summer, for recollect it was the hottest time of the year when they were first seen by Euro- peans, and naturally, the clothing would be as scant as possible; the same as ladies resort to at the pres- ent period in July and August, for have you not observed numerous women during the hot months of summer wearing bodices which were pretty vapory? So there was only a "slight" difference in the attire of our native Quivirian women, they having no shirt waists on; but their lower limbs were covered with leggings, some of which were quite artistically deco- rated with fringe; some had shoes or moccasins. Quite a number had sashes over their shoulders, , made of pied deer skin. (It is said that there were such in Quivira.) These were nicely tanned, leaving