Highlander wears his plaid, and was painted so as to make the most
hideous appearance I ever beheld: Round one eye was a large circle of
white, a circle of black surrounded the other, and the rest of his face
was streaked with paint of different colours: I did not measure him, but
if I may judge of his height by the proportion of his stature to my own,
it could not be much less than seven feet. When this frightful Colossus
came up, we muttered somewhat to each other as a salutation, and I then
walked with him towards his companions, to whom, as I advanced, I made
signs that they should sit down, and they all readily complied: There
were among them many women, who seemed to be proportionably large; and
few of the men were less than the chief who had come forward to meet me.
I had heard their voices very loud at a distance, and when I came near,
I perceived a good number of very old men, who were chanting some
unintelligible words in the most doleful cadence I ever heard, with an
air of serious solemnity, which inclined me to think that it was a
religious ceremony: They were all painted and clothed nearly in the same
manner; the circles round the two eyes were in no instance of one
colour, but they were not universally black and white, some being white
and red, and some red and black: Their teeth were as white as ivory,
remarkably even and well set; but except the skins, which they wore with
the hair inwards, most of them were naked, a few only having upon their
legs a kind of boot, with a short pointed stick fastened to each heel,
which served as a spur. Having looked round upon these enormous goblins
with no small astonishment, and with some difficulty made those that
were still galloping up sit down with the rest, I took out a quantity of
yellow and white beads, which I distributed among them, and which they
received with very strong expressions of pleasure: I then took out a
whole piece of green silk ribband, and giving the end of it into the
hands of one of them, I made the person that sat next take hold of it,
and so on as far as it would reach: All this while they sat very