PARAGUAY WOMEN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4779, 21 July 1894, Page 2

PARAGUAY WOMEN.

1 correspondent writes tiiatParaguay is essentially a land of women, for tho men liave been swept olf by civil wars and revolutions, especially by the wars of Lopez, and the women are anything but a nice lot, Of course, now and again, oiio comes across a very magnificent specimen of a Guarnm girl, tall and stately, serone of countenance, with skin like brown satin; piercing black eyes,-heavy black hair falling in braids below her waist, and figure well-formed and graceful ; but the picture is alway spoilt by the big cigar which she is sure to bo, chewiug . and sucking at all the time. From a very early age, the women of Paraguay all smoke Mgcigars,and tho natural rcsultis that their teeth aro blaakened very soon by the nicotine, and their breath is far from savoury. Besides, even the handsomest of Guarani girls "goes olf" in the most painful manner in a very short time. Before slio lias well reached middle age, the dusky Diana will be as hideous a' specimen of decayed humanity as her mother; and a Guaririi mother is always an awful old blear-eyed, and wrinkled as a dried 'fig.' The majority of the women arc, however, not Dianas at all. They arc ugly in faco, shrill in tongue, sad and miserable in appearance and, moreover, splay-footed, owing to their constant disuse of shoes and stockings. Add to this that they arc always sucking at one of tho big coarse cigars of tho country, or chewing tho cud of one, and the picture is complete, In one thing, howover, the women of Paraguay excel, Their figures are wonderful, and their carriage is Juno-like. This is mainly due to their habit of carrying packages on their heads, which strengthens the spine as in the caso of, Hindoo women, Such adepts arc the Paraguayan girls at this that ihey will carry an empty water jug poised at a rakish angle on tho head, and go down tho'streets stopping to gaze at anything of interest, or to talk to acquaintances without for a moment endangering the safety of their load, Tho women of the tipper classes are mostly half-bred Spaniards. They are usually far from handsome, but are very amor- ' ousand jealous. They are also lazy, and not particular, about ablutions. Their idea of pleasure is to eat sweets and swing in hammocks, They arcticvoted to dancing, and dance with an energy perfectly astounding by contrast ; with their usual laziness. They are also ] born intriguers. (