chap, thread after thread, traverfing the warp in the manner
—V ^ J t ^ a h e j e i s d*rnedjna.flocking:; ^ h w h k h they are
Rained rvith.the juices of trees according to fancy,
The Indian girls arrive at the time of puberty before
twelve years old, indeed commonly much fooner, at
whjèh time they are married. The ceremony- confifts
limply hi the young: man’s offering a quantity of game
and filh of his own catching, which, if fhe accepts,'he
next propofes the queftion, « Will you be. my wifë?’Mf
Ihe anfwers in the affirmative, the matter is fettled, and
the nuptials celebrated ih:a drunken feaft, when a houfe
and,furniture is provided for the young couple. Their
women are delivered without any affiftance, and with fo
little inconvenience or fuffering, .that they feém exempt
from the curfe of Eve. They go about the menial fer,
•vices for their hufbands the day after their delivery ;.
then, however ridiculous and incredible it may appear’
it is an abfolute fadt, that every one of thefe gentlemen
lie m their hammocks for above a mouth, groaning and
grunting as if they .had been themfelves in labour* during
which time all the women muff attend them with
.extraordinary care and the belt food. This the Indian
caHs enjoying himfelf, and refting from his labour.
Moft of thefe people efteeming a flat forehead a mark of
- eauty, they comprefs the heads of their children, it is
Raid, immediately after their.birth, like the Chatfaws of
■North, America.
No M a n wife eats with her hntban'd, hut ferrés him
as
S I P t
asaffiave: for this réafon they can take but very little
Care of their infants, Which, neverthelefs,j are always
-healthy and undeformed. When they .-travel, th,ey carry
them in lmall hammocks flung over one, fhoulder, in
which fits the child, havfeg :©ne leg before and the other
behind the mother. For'an eiiietio they ufe the juice of
tobacco,, which they feldom fmoke.
When the Indians are dying, either from fieinefs',0r old
age,‘the latter of which as'knoRi frequently .the jcaqfe, the
devil or Yawahoo is | at rhidnight exorcifed byjfhe peii oy
prieff,, by means )oi rattling - a calibafh filled.with-fimall
ftones, ipeas, and beads* accompanied by a long fpeecb.'
This office is hereditary, hid by; thefe -pretended'.divines
no animal food, as I have (before faid, is publicly
faffed, and yet on the whole they liveebetter than all
the', others» When- an Indian is dead*, beingj firfl
WlffiëdJ-jaid anointed, hë/isf buded naked, in a 4new
eottcmïhag, Jh a fitting attitude, hib'head- refting on the
palm's óf his hands, Ms elbows on his knees} and all his
implements of war and hunting by his fide? during which
■time his relatións ahd neighbours rend the air by their diff-.
•mal lamentations; but foon after, by a general drunken
dpt, they drown their forrows till the following year. This
practice, by the \vay* bears feme affinity to Dr. Smollet’s
defcription of a buriaTih Highlands of Scotland.4 At
the expiration of the year, the body* being rotten, is dug
up, and the bones diftributed to all the friends and ac,
quaintance, during which ceremony the former rites
I - ::f' are
CHAP.
XV.