UntitledLocation: Chile Description: This engraving, like the other from this book, is labeled and a description of each figure is given. Figure A is described as "Indienne du Chily broyant du mays pour en faire de la farine" or "Female Indian grinding corn to make flour." The author describes the traditional female dress*: "The women usually wear long sleeveless robes, open on one side, wear they cross and hold them together using two silver hooks with plates three or four inches in diameter; this is also called the Chony, it is always either blue or very close to black in color. In the villages, they wear beneath the Chony a skirt and a Revos, and in the countryside a small square pièce of fabric attached to the breast on either side with a large silver pin with a flat head about four or five inches in diameter called a Toupos" (65). In the image we also see Figure C: "Indienne en Chony et Yquella" or "Female Indian wearing the Chony and Iquella." Both of these figures display the dress and certain elements are more prominent on one figure or the other. Next, we look at the male figure, Figure B: "Indien en Poncho et Polainas" or "Indian with Poncho and Leggings." The traditional male dress is also described in great detail*: "They wear a shirt that is fitted with a belt closed so that only the passage of the head and an arm is allowed, this is called Macuri; and breeches open all along the thighs, that barely cover their nakedness. Over these, when it is raining, or to be decently dressed, they have a kind of coat that resembles a long square tablecloth in the center of which is a slit through which they pass the head ... They usually go with head and legs bare, but when necessity or propriety requires them to cover themselves, they have a bonnet ... and a sort of boot or wool stocking on the legs, rarely are the feet covered unless they are among the stones, so they make sandals called Ojota out of straps or rushes. The Spaniards took the use of the Chony or poncho and the boots, or Polainas to go on horseback" (64-65). The anthropological nature of this image is evident as it is in the other from this work. The author was clearly interested in exploring and documenting the traditional way of life as pictured. *Text is translated from the original French. Book Title: Relation du voyage de la Mer du Sud aux côtes du Chily et du Perou : fait pendant les années 1712, Plate Number: Page 65 Call Number: F2221 .F86 1716 |