Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

254 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP, xx
excursions, or as dealers in the various products of
the country. He sent home, however, to his friend
Mr. Teasdale a set of forty-four coloured drawings
of " Costumes and Customs of Quito," which are
now in possession of his son John Teasdale, Esq.,
Solicitor, of York, and which he has kindly allowed
me an opportunity of inspecting. These were
executed by a native Indian (though some writers
doubt if there are any absolutely pure Indians left
in Ecuador), and are very spirited and life-like,
representing all the various trades and occupations
of the people in their respective working or holiday
costumes, and very naturally coloured, both colours
and brushes being made by the artist himself from
native vegetables or minerals. They serve to
illustrate not only the people themselves, but their
tastes in dress and ornaments, and support the view
of previous writers as to their possession of mental
faculties comparable with those of their conquerors
and masters.
Yet they appear to be by no means prepossessing,
as exhibited in the accompanying portraits of
four Quito Indians, reproduced from photographic
prints in Dr. Theodor Wolfs Geografia y Geologia
del Ecuador. These recall in their coarse massive
features and stolid expressions many of the natives
of the North American plains and mountains, such
as the Cheyennes and some others, and suggest an
original identity of the mountain as forest tribes of both continents.
opposed to the
The following description of the Ecuadoreans in
the Universal Geography Q{ Elisce Reclus emphasises
"
the several characteristics of these people. Except
during times of frenzy and ecstasy, the Ecuadoreans