The women of the Tyrol
are in general remarkably beautiful, exceedingly well shaped and of fine
complexions.
In the towns the bourgeoises dress well, something in the French style, and
it is their custom to salute travellers who pass by kissing their hands to
them. The dress of the female peasantry, however, is unpleasing to the eye
and so uncouth, that it would make the most beautiful women appear homely.
In the first place I will speak of their head dress, of which there are
three different kinds, two of which are as bizarre as can be imagined.
The first sort is a cap of sheepskin, the fleece of which is as white as
snow, and the cap is of conical shape, the base being exceeding large in
proportion to its height, and resembles much the sugar loaves made in
Egypt. The second is a black scull cap, with the three pieces of stiff
black gaze, sticking out like the vanes of a windmill; so that when put
on the head, one vane stands upright from the forehead and the other two
from each ear. The third head dress is a broad straw hat, and I wish they
would stick to this coiffure, and discard the two others. Then the waist of
their dress is as long as
...du pole antarctique an detroit de Davis.[121]
Their petticoats are exceedingly short, scarcely reaching the calf of the
legs, which are enveloped in a pair of flaming red stockings. Who the devil
could invent such an ungraceful dress for a female?
The costume of the men on the contrary is becoming and graceful. It
resembles very much the costume of the Andalusians. The hat is exactly the
same, the crown being small and the rim very broad.
The Tyroleans are a fine gallant race of men and are excellent marksmen.
They were formerly much attached to the House of Austria; but that
attachment is now entirely changed to dislike, from the ingratitude they
have met with, since they have been replaced under that scepter.
The only fault I find in the Tyroleans, is that they are rather too devout
and consequently too much under the influence of the clergy. Yet in their
devotion there is not the smallest tinge of hypocrisy and they are esteemed
a highly moral people.
If you arrive at an inn in the evening, while the family are at prayer,
neither master nor servants will come to wait on you, till prayers are
over; and then you will be served with sufficient alacrity; but the prayers
are rather long.
I believe the priests extort a good deal of money from these good people.
The road thro' the Tyrol was made by the Romans, in the time of Septimus
Severus.
