Insulinde; experiences of a naturalist's wife in the Eastern Archipelago
Anna Forbes
Paperback
(RareBooksClub.com, June 26, 2012)
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1887 edition. Excerpt: ... a French fashion journal, which 168 TENIMBEK BEAUTY. was hung on his wall. It represented ideal figures of ladies, in walking, riding, bathing, mountaineering, and gymnastic costumes: as far as I observed,--and I noted their manner carefully,--they saw no resemblance to human beings 'in these figures; they were as triangles or squares to them. Ah! may advancing civilisation keep such monstrosities far from the graceful Tenimber women. With head erect and chest expanded, how easy, graceful, healthy, happy they looked! Untrammelled in limb, free of foot, it was worth while to watch their every motion. As they came home in their prahus from their gardens over the strait, always just at sundown, when their figures, as they stand erect at the stern, show clearly against the ruddy light, with a powerful push of the pole, and an exquisite action of the body, sending the prahus shooting up the beach, they showed at their best, and formed a picture we never tired looking on. There is no question that the beauty of the Tenimber women is in their healthiness and natural grace of movement--not, except in a few cases, in delicacy of feature. In budding womanhood some of them look sweet,--pensive eyes and the soft brown skin make up a pleasing A PASSIONATE CHILD. 169 face; but later they get thin, and the skin becomes shrunken. They do not dye the hair as the men do, and give little time to its arrangement.. I never heard a woman sing. They may, but I did not hear even the "li-li-la "which is the spontaneous expression of exuberance and content with the man, who also frequently bursts into wild happy song. They laugh often, however, with true Papuan heartiness. And they can scold too! I once saw a woman rating her husband soundly; he, however, took...