Darwin Correspondence Project

Mexican performer. An indigenous Mexican from the western slope of the Sierra Madre. Suffered from excessive hairiness and physical deformities of the head, resulting in what was thought to be an ape-like visage; her disorders are now thought to have been severe gingival hyperplasia (overdevelopment of the gum) and congenital hypertrichosis with terminal hair. Danced in performances, and was exhibited as a human curiosity in North America, Europe, and Russia; was mummified after death and exhibited further.