burn in their Lamps This Isle is exceeding fertil It s Fertility bearing Crops all the year long and its Trees being always cloathed in their Summer-Livery and the Fields and Woods in their verdure renders it very delightful to the Inhabitants But the two principal seasons of the year for planting are in May and November but the Sugar-Canes are planted all the year round the making of which is not only very chargeable but also as dangerous and subject to casualties either in the Boyling-house with the Coppers and Furnaces in the Filling-Room in the Still-House or in the Curing-House The Commodities this Island produceth Its Commodities are Sugars which though not so white as those of Brazile yet better when refined being of a fairer grain Indico Cotton-wool Ginger Logwood Fustick and Lignum vitae and these Commodities especially Sugar Indico Cotton and Ginger here are in such great abundance that about two hundred Sail of Ships and Vessels both great and small have yearly their loading which after imported in the several Ports of England and Ireland is again in great quantities exported to foreign parts to our great enrichment and the rather for that they are not permitted to trade with any other Nation but the English and such of His Majesties Subjects in New-England Virginia and Bermudas and in exchange of those Commodities they take such as are necessary for the use of man as well for the Back and Belly as for their Houses and Plantations with many of which they are supplied from New-England Virginia and the Bermudas together with Servants and Slaves with several sorts of Commodities and Provisions as Horses Camels Assinegroes Cattel also salted Flesh and Fish of several sorts Butter and Cheese but by reason of the great heat of the weather it will soon stink and become unfit to eat so that instead of Butter they make great use of Oyl for their Sauces The Dayes and Nights are almost throughout the year of an equal length the Sun rising and setting at six except about October and then there is some small difference The Ayr The Ayr. though hot is very moist which causeth all Iron-Tools as Knives Swords Locks Keys c. to rust so that without constant usage they will soon become eaten up with Rust And this great heat and moisture doth cause the Plants and Trees to grow so large and high Here are abundance of Fruits of all sorts as Dates The Fruits Oranges two sorts the one sweet and the other sharp Pomgranates Citrons Limes Limons Macows Grapes Juniper-Apples Papayers Momins Mombains Acajous Icacos Cherries Raisins Indian-Figs Cocoes Plantins Bononoes Guavars Prickle-Apples Prickle-Pears Custard-Apples Melons both Land and Water and Pine-Apples the rarest Fruit in the Indies Here are great store of Fish in the Sea as Snappers Crabs Their Fish Lobsters Terbums Macquerels Mullets Cavalloes Parrot-Fish Cony-Fish and Green Turtles which of all others are the most delicious with several other sorts appropriated to this and the rest of the Caribby-Isles but the Rivulets or Ponds have few or no Fish in them Here are no Beasts or Cattel but what are tame Their Cattel and brought them as Camels Horses Assinegroes Oxen Bulls Cows Sheep Goats and Hogs which are here in great plenty in every Plantation it being their common Food whose Flesh is esteemed very good and delicious but as for Beef and Mutton it is very dear as having but a small stock but might be soon increased would they spare ground enough for Pasturage for them from their other occasions Here groweth divers sorts of English Herbs and Roots Their Herbs as Rosemary Lavender Lavender-Cotton Marjoram Winter-Savoury Time Parsley Tanscy Sage Purslan c. And for Roots Cabbages Coleworts Colliflowers Turnips Potatoes Onions Garlick Radishes Lettice Taragon Marigolds c. Here are several sorts of Fowls as Their Fowls Turkeys Hens Muscovy-Ducks Pigeons Turtle-Doves c. And for small Birds great variety as Thrushes Black-Birds Sparrows c. Here are several Animals Animals and Insects as Snakes a yard and half long Scorpions as big as Rats but no way hurtful to Man or Beast Lizards which are exceeding harmless much frequenting the Houses and loving the company of Men Musketoes Cockroches and Merriwings which are very troublesom in the Night in stinging also there are Land-Crabs which are found good to eat Here are great variety of Trees Trees fit for several Uses as the Locust Mastick Red-wood the Iron-wood-tree and Cedar which are fit for Building Also the Cassia-Fistula Coloquintida Tamarind Cassary of which is made their Bread the Poyson-Tree and the Physick-Nut these have a Physical and some a Poysonous Vertue in them Also here are these trees following the Calibash the shell of whose fruit serveth to carry liquid things in being of the nature of Gourds the Mangrass-tree which is of an exceeding greatness the Roucou of whose Bark is made Ropes as also Flax which being spun is employed to several uses the Lignum Vitae the Palmeto which is very large and beautiful to behold with several others In this Island are divers Caves some of which are very deep and large enough to hold five hundred men and these Caves are often the Sanctuary of such Negro-Slaves that run away in which they lie a good while before they are found out seldom stirring in the day-time although they are such unwholsome places by reason of the great damps that are found in them And it is supposed that these Caves were the Habitation of the Natives They have a Drink call'd Mobby Their Drink made of Potatoes soaked in water another named Prino made of cassavy-Cassavy-Root and Water which though it is not so pleasant yet is reckoned much better made by the Indians for their own drinking which in it self is a strong Poyson and this they cause their old Women whose Breath and Teeth have been tainted with divers Poxes to chew and spit out in the water for the better breaking and macerating the Root and in a few hours this Juice will purge itself of its poysonous qualities for their poysonous Breath and the poyson of the Cassary being opposites work with such vehemency that they spend their poysonous qualities in the conflict they likewise drink Crippo Kill-Devil Punch Plum-Drink Plantane-Drink a strong Drink made of the skimming of Sugar Beveridge made of spring-Spring-water Sugar and the Juice of Oranges and Wine of Pines which is only made of the Juice of the Fruit which is the best of all Their Meat Their Meats is generally Hogs-Flesh salted Flesh or Fish and when any of the Cattel die by any distemper or by accident it is given to the Negroes who feed like Princes on it but they are commonly contented from weeks end to weeks end with Potatoes Loblolly made of Maize mixt with water Cassader-Bread common in all the Indies Bonariff and such like Food that the Plantation affords as Pompions as sweet as Melons Plantanes
give any thing especially for their Children to whom they are extreamly natural they drink at those times a Teran or Decostion of some Roots in spring-Spring-water and if they eat any flesh it must be of the Female of any Creature if they die they bury them with their Apparel be they Men or Women and the nearest of Kin slings in something precious with them as a token of their love their mourning is blacking of their faces which they continue for a Year they are choice of the Graves of their dead for lest they should be lost by time and fall to common use they pick off the Grass that grows upon them and heap up the fallen Earth with great care and exactness These poor people are under a dark Night in things relating to Religion Their Religion to be sure the Tradition of it yet they believe a God and Immortality without the helps of Metaphysicks for they say there is a great King that made them who dwells in a glorious Country to the Southward of them and that the Souls of the good shall go thither where they shall live again Their Worship consists of two parts Sacrifice and Cantico Their Sacrifice is their first Fruits the first and fattest Buck they kill goes to the Fire where he is all burnt with a mournful Ditty of him that performs the Ceremony but with such marvellous fervency and labour of Body that he will even sweat to a Foam the other part of their Cantico is performed by round Dances sometimes Words sometimes Songs then Shouts two being in the middle that begin and by singing and drumming on a Board direct the Chorus their Postures in the Dance are very antick and differing but all keep measure This is done with equal earnestness and labour but great appearance of Joy In the Fall when the Corn comes in they begin to feast one another there have been two great Festivals already to which all come that will I was at one my self their entertainment was a great Seat by a Spring under some shady Trees and twenty Bucks with hot Cakes of new Corn both Wheat and Beans which they make up in a square form in the Leaves of the Stem and bake them in the Ashes and after that they fell to dance but they that go must carry a small Present of their Money it may be six pence which is made in the Bone of a Fish the black is with them as Gold the white Silver they call it all Wampum Their Government Government is by Kings which they call Sachema and those by succession but always of the Mothers-side for instance the Children of him that is now King will not succeed but his Brother by the Mother or the Children of his Sister whose Sons and after them the Children of her Daughters will reign for no Woman inherits the Reason they render for this way of Descent is that their Issue may not be spurious Every King hath his Council and that consists of all the old and wise men of his Nation which perhaps is two hundred People Nothing of moment is undertaken be it War Peace selling of Land Traffick without advising with them and which is more with the young men too 'T is admirable to consider how powerful the Kings are and how they move by the Breath of the People I have had occasion to be in Council with them upon Treaties of Land and to adjust the Terms of Trade Their Order is thus The King sits in the middle of a half-Moon and hath his Council the old and wise on each hand behind them or at a little distance sit the younger Fry in the same Figure having consulted and resolved their Busisiness the King ordered one of them to speak to me and he in the Name of his King saluted me then took me by the hand and told me That he was ordered by his King to speak to me and that now it was not he but the King that spoke because what he should say was the King's Mind He first prayed me to excuse them that they had not complied with me the last time he feared there might be some fault in the Interpreter being neither Indian nor English besides it was the Indian custom to deliberate and take up much time in Council before they resolve and that if the young People and Owners of the Land had been as ready as he I had not met with so much delay Having thus introduced this Matter he fell to the Bounds of the Land they had agreed to dispose of and the Price which now is little and dear that which would have bought twenty Miles not buying now two During the time that this Person spoke not a man of them was observed to whisper or smile the Old grave the Young reverent in their deportment They do speak little but fervently and with elegancy I have never seen more natural sagacity considering them without the help of Tradition and he will deserve the Name of wise that out-wits them in any Treaty about a thing they understand When the Purchase was agreed great Promises passed between us of Kindness and good Neighbourhood and that the Indians and English must live in Love as long as the Sun gave Light which done another made a Speech to the Indians in the Name of all the Sachamakers or Kings first to tell them what was done next to charge and command them to love Christians and particularly to live in peace with me and the People under my Government That many Governors had been in the River but that no Governor had come himself to live and stay here before and having now such a one that had treated them well they should never do him or his any wrong At every Sentence of which they shouted and said Amen in their way The Justice Their Justice they have is pecuniniary in case of any wrong or evil fact be it Murder itself they atone by Feasts and Presents of their Wampum which is proportioned to the quality of the Offence or Person injur'd of the Sex they are of For in case they kill a Woman they pay double and the reason they render is That she breedeth Children which men cannot do 'T is rare that they fall out if sober and if drunk they forgive it saying it was the Drink and not the Man that abused them We have agreed that in all differences between us six of each side shall end the Matter Don't abuse them but let them have Justice and you win them The worst is they are the worse for the Christians who have propagated their Vices and yielded them Tradition for ill and not for good things But as low an Ebb as they are at and in as glorious as their condition looks the Christians have not out-liv'd their sight with all their Pretensions to an higher manifestation What Good then might not a good People graft where there is so distinct a Knowledge left between good and evil
strongly perfumes their boroughs that it is easie to find them out But of all the Creatures which this Island produces the Alegator is the most remarkable it keeps near the Sea and in Rivers and Islands un-inhabited and sometimes likewise on shore among the Reeds it is a Creature very fearful to behold and grows to the very last day of its life so that many of them are eighteen Foot long and as big about as a Hogshead their lower Jaws are immoveable but their Mouth is so wide and their Teeth so exceeding sharp that they can with ease bite a Man in two Those that are bred in fresh Water smell of Musk and that so strongly that they perfume the very Air an hundred Paces round about them and scent the very Water in which they live those of them that live in the Sea have not so strong a scent however both kinds are exceeding dangerous to such as swim in those Parts they are always very sly and make use of a cunning slight for the seizing Horses and Cows it being their custom to lye lurking at the places where usually they come to drink watching his advantage and having half shut his eyes sloats upon the top of the Water like a piece of rotten Wood by which means he gets by small degrees still nearer to the poor Beast and while he is drinking without the least dread of such an Enemy suddenly seizes him by the lips dragging him under Water until he is drown'd after which he eats him He likewise sometimes surprizes Men by the same slight for one who was a Servant to the Consul of Alexandria going to take up one of them thinking it had been a piece of Wood was suddenly seized on and drawn by it to the bottom of the River and never seen more A DESCRIPTION Of the ISLAND of BARBADA or BARBVDA BArbada is situated in 17 degrees and a half of Northern Latitude Situation of no great extent not exceeding fifteen Miles in length and of no great account to the English who are the Possessors of it yet it is found to be of a fertile Soyl well stored with Cattel and Sheep and might produce several good Commodities were it well manag'd to the advantage of the Inhabitants But it is subject to one great inconveniency as well as some others of those Islands viz. the Caribeans of Dominica and other places make frequent Incursions and commit great Spoils in it the enmity and aversion which those Canibals have received against the English Nation in general be so great irreconcilable that there seldom passeth a Year wherein they do not make an Eruption into some one or other of these Islands and if not presently discovered and vigorously opposed at their first Landing do much mischief destroying all before them with Fire and Sword except the Women and Children which together with the Spoil and Plunder they carry off to their own Territories The Caribeans who Inhabit divers of those Islands are generally thought to have been formerly driven by their Enemies from the Continent of America and forced to take shelter here having amongst themselves various and very different Opinions Customs and Ceremonies such as live near and converse with the Christians have relinquish'd many of their ancient barbarous Usages and have very much civiliz'd their Conversations which gave occasion to two ancient Caribeans to entertain some of the European Christians with this or the like Discourse Our People are now quite degenerated from what they formerly were and in a manner become just like yours and so different are we now grown from what we were before that we find it a matter of some difficulty for us to know ourselves To which degeneracy of ours attribute those furious Hurricanes which happen now more frequently than they were wont to do in the Days of Old The Inhabitants are handsom well-proportioned of a smiling Countenance their Eyes and Hair are black their Foreheads and Noses flat being crushed down by their Mothers at the time of their Birth and all the time of their Sucking because they imagine that flatness to be a kind of beauty and perfection Their Feet are large and thick and so exceeding hard that although they go bare-foot neither shall you see any of them blind lame crook-back'd bald or having any other natural infirmity Such Scars and Deformities as they get in the Wars they glory in as evident demonstrations of their Valour Their Hair is strait and long the Women attributing the highest excellency to that which exceeds in blackness both Men and Women tye up their Hair behind which they bind so hard that it stands up upon their Heads like a horn but hangs loose upon the top it falls down again on each side of their Heads The Men so soon as their Beards begin to grow pluck them up by the roots accounting it a great deformity to the Europeans to wear any both Men and Women go naked and if any should so much as endeavour to touch their Privy-Parts all the rest will deride them and those who converse amongst the Christians though they are much civilized and have forsaken many of their odd and barbarous Customs yet no perswasion can prevail with them to relinquish this They generally say they came naked into the World and it will be a madness for them to hide the bodies nature has bestowed upon them notwithstanding which they change the natural colours of their skins by dying them with a red Composition which they make for that purpose and wherewith they always anoint themselves after washing and many times to make themselves appear the more gallant as they imagine they draw black Circles about their Eyes with the Juyce of Juniper-Apples and when they would appear more gallant than ordinary put on a Crown of Feathers of different colours and hang Fish-bones or Buck made of Gold Siver or Tin in their Ears and some of them make holes through their Lips or in the space between their Nostrils wherein they hang Rings Fish-bones or some such Toys to increase their gallantry and some of the better sort wear Necklaces of Amber Coral Cristal or some such kind of glittering stuff There grows in this Island great store of excellent Fruits Their Fruits viz. Oranges Pomegranates Citrons Raisins Indian-Figgs and Coco-Nuts that famous Fruit whereof some Historians tell such Miracles the Nut grows upon the very trunk or top of the Tree which is never found without Fruit for it bears new every Month when the Nut is broke which is very large many of them weighing above ten pound the Fruit appears as white as Snow extreamly nourishing and in taste much like an Almond in the middle whereof there lies a clear Liquor so exceeding pleasant and delicious in taste that many prefer it before the best Florence-Wine One of them affords Meat enough to fill a good large Dish withal Besides which there are divers excellent Trees and Woods Their Commodities
Captain George Popham being President and the People seemed much affected with our mens devotion and would say King James is a good King and his God a good God but our God Tanto a naughty God which is the Name of the evil Spirit that haunts them every new Moon and makes them worship him for fear he commanded the Indians not to converse nor come near the English threatning to kill some of them if they did and inflict sickness upon others if they disobey'd him beginning with two of their Sagamores or King's Children affirming he had power to do the like against the English and would the next new Moon execute it on them In January in the space of seven hours they had Thunder Lightning Rain Frost and Snow all in very great abundance There is likewise found a Bath so hot for two Miles about they cannot drink of it One of the Indians for a Straw-hat and Knife stript himself of his cloathing which was Beaver-skins worth in England 50 s. or 3 l. to present them to the President only leaving himself a piece to cover his Nudities About this time by the industry of Capt. Gosnold and Capt. Smith James-Town was built James-Town built the Indians supplying their Necessities which were sometimes very extream the Winter approaching the Rivers afforded them very great plenty of Cranes Swans Geese Ducks wherewith they had Pease and wild Beasts c. But in the discovery of Chickahamine-River George Casson was surprised and Smith with two others beset with two hundred Savages his Men slain and himself taken Prisoner but in about a Months time he procured not only his liberty but was in great favour among them being extraordinary well pleased with his Discourses of God Nature and Art so that he had a most noble Entertainment from Powhatan one of their Emperours who sate in state upon his Bed of Mats Pillow of Leather imbroidered with Parl and white Beads attired with Robes of Skins as large as an Irish-Mantle at his Head sate a handsom young Woman and another at his Feet and on each side the Room twenty others their Heads and Shoulders painted red with a great Chain of white Beads about their Necks and a Robe of Skins large like an Irish-Mantle before these sate his chiefest Men in their orders In his Palace or Arbour one Newport who accompanied Captain Smith gave the Emperour a Boy in requital whereof Powhatan bestowed upon him Namontack his Servant who was afterwards brought into England yet after this Powhatan treacherously contrived the Murder of sixteen of of our Men which was happily prevented by Captain Smith who seized another of their Kings and thereby obtained Peace with them upon his own Terms This Emperour had about thirty Kings under him his chief Treasure consisting of Skins Copper Pearls Beads and the like all which were kept in store against his Burial being reserved on purpose against that time his House being fifty or sixty Yards long frequented only by Priests at the four Corners stood four Images as Centinels one of a Bear another a Dragon the third a Leopard and the fourth a Giant He hath as many Women as he pleases whom after he is grown weary of he bestows upon his Favorites His Will with the Custom of the Country are his Laws punishing his Malefactors by broiling to death inclosed about with fire with several other Tortures About ten Miles from James-Town one of their Kings made a Feast in the Woods the people being most monstroully painted some like black Devils with Horns and their Hair loose of variety of colours they continued two days dancing in a Circle of a quarter of a Mile about four in a rank in two companies exercising several Antick Tricks the King leading the Dance all in the midst had black Horns on their Heads and green Boughs in their Hands next whom were four or five principal Men differently painted who with Clubs beat those forward that tired in the Dance which held so long that they were scarce able either to go or stand they made a hellish noise and throwing away their Boughs ran clapping their Hands up into a Tree and tearing down a Branch fell into their order again After this fifteen of their proper Boys between ten and fiften years old painted white were brought forth to the people who spent the Forenoon in sporting and dancing about them with Rattles then the Children being fetched away the Women wept and passionately cried out providing Moss Skins Mats and dry Wood making Wreaths for their Heads and decking their Hair with Leaves after which they were all cast on a heap in a Valley as dead where a great Feast was made for all the company for two hours they then fell again into a Circle and danced about the Youths causing a Fire to be made on an Altar which our Men thought was designed to sacrifice them to the Devil but it was a mistake and the Indians deluded our Men by false stories one denying and another affirming the same thing being either ignorant or unwilling to discover the devilish Mysteries of their Religion but a King being demanded the meaning of this Sacrifice answered That the Children were not all dead but the Okee or the Devil did suck the Blood from their left Breast till some of them died but the rest were kept in the Wilderness till nine Moons were expired during which they must not converse with any of these were made Priests and Conjurers They think these Sacrifices so necessary that if omitted they believe their Okee or Devil their other Gods would hinder them from having any Deer Turkies Corn or Fish and would likewise make a great Slaughter among them They imagine their Priests after Death go beyond the Mountains toward the Sun-Setting and remain there continually in the shape of their Okee having their Heads painted with Oyl and finely trimmed with Feathers and being furnised with Beads Hatchets Copper and Tobacco never cease to dance and sing with their Predecessors yet they suppose the common People shall die like Beasts and never live after Death Some of their Priests were so far convinced that they declared our God exceeded theirs as much as our Guns did their Bows and Arrows and sent many Presents to the President intreating him to pray to his God for Rain for their God would not send them any By Break of Day before they eat or drink the Men Women and Children above ten years old run into the Water and there wash a good space till the Sun arise then they offer Sacrifice to it strewing Tobacco on the Land and Water repeating the same Ceremony at Sun-Set George Casson aforementioned was sacrificed as they thought to the Devil being stript naked and bound to two stakes with his Back against a great Fire after which they ript up his Belly and burnt his Bowels drying his Flesh to the Bones which they kept above ground in a Room many other Englishmen were cruelly
plant there and called it New-Netherland but Sir Samuel Argal Governour of Virginia routed them after which they got leave of King James to put in there for Fresh-Water in their Passage to Brazile and did not offer to plant till a good while after the English were setled in the Countrey In 1664. His late Majesty King Charles the Second sent over four Commissioners to reduce the Colony into bounds that had been encroached upon by each other who marched with three hundred Red-Coats to Manhadees and took from the Dutch the chief Town then called New-Amsterdam now New-York and Aug. 29. turned out their Governour with a Silver Leg and all the rest but those who acknowledged Subjection to the King of England suffering them to enjoy their Houses and Estates as before Thirteen days after Sir Robert Car took the Fort and Town of Aurania now called Albany and twelve days after that the Fort and Town of Arasapha then Delaware-Castle manned with Dutch and Swedes so that now the English are Masters of three handsom Towns three strong Forts and a Castle without the loss of one man The first Governour of these Parts for the King of England was Colonel Nicols one of the Commissioners It is a Countrey of a rich and fertil Soyl It s Fertility well watered with Rivers as in Mary-Land already spoken of and is found to produce the same Beasts Birds Fish Fruits Commodities Trees c. and in as great plenty and it is reported that one Bushel of European Wheat has yielded an hundred in one year The most considerable Town is that of New-York It s Situation being well seated both for Trade Security and Pleasure in a small Isle called Manahatan regarding the Sea made so by Hudson's River which severeth it from Long-Island which said River is very commodious for Shipping being about two Leagues broad The Town is large containing about five hundred well-built Houses built with Dutch-Brick and the meanest not valued under one hundred Pounds to the landward it is encompassed with a Wall of good thickness and fortified at the entrance of the River so as to command any Ship which passeth that way by a Fort called James-Fort and for Civil Government it hath a Mayor Alderman Sheriff and Justices of the Peace for their Magistrates The Inhabitants are most English and Dutch who have a very considerable Trade with the Indians for the Skins of Elks Deer Bears c. also for those of Beaver Otter Racoon-skins with other rich Furs and are supplied with Venison and Fowl in the Winter and Fish in the Summer by the Indians at an easie price This Province formerly contained all that Land which is seated in the North part of America betwixt England and Mary-Land the length toward the North being not fully known the breadth is about 200 Miles The chief Rivers are Hudson-River Raritan River and Delaware-Bay and the principal Islands are the Manahatan-Island Long-Island and Stater-Island Manahatan-Island so called by the Indians lieth within land betwixt forty one and forty two Degrees of North Latitude and is in length about fourteen Miles and two broad New-York is seated on the West-end of this Island having a small Arm of the Sea which divides it from Long-Island on the South Long-Island runs Eastward above a hundred Miles and in some places eight twelve and fourteen Miles broad inhabited from one end to the other having a rich Soil for all English-Grain the Fruits Trees and Herbs very good in May you may see the Woods and Fields so richly bedecked with Roses and variety of other delightful Flowers as equal if not excel many Gardens in England This Country is also possessed with sundry sorts of People Its Inhabitants not much unlike the Indians of Virginia being well-proportioned swarthy black-haired very expert in their Bow and Arrows which are their chief Weapons of War they are very serviceable and courteous to the English being of a ready Wit and very apt to recieve Instruction from them but there are now but few Indians upon the Island being strangely decreased since the English first settled there for not long ago there were six Towns full of them which are now reduced to two Villages the rest being cut off by Wars among themselves or some raging mortal Diseases They live principally by Hunting Fowling and Fishing their Wives tilling the Land and planting the Corn they feed on Fish Fowl and Venison likewise Pol-cats Turtles Racoon and the like they build small moveable Tents which they remove three times a year chiefly quartering where they plant their Corn besides their Hunting and Fishing-Quarters Their principal Recreation are Foot-ball and Cards at which they will play away all they have except a Flap to cover their nakedness they are very great lovers of Strong-drink so that without they have enough to be drunk they care not to drink at all if their company be so great that they have not enough to make them all drunk they usually chuse so many as are proportionable to that quantity and the rest must be spectators if any happen to be drunk before he has taken his share which is ordinarily a quart of Brandy Rum or strong-Strong-waters to shew their Justice they will pour the rest down his Throat in which debauches they often kill one another which the Friends of the dead revenge upon the Murtherer unless he purchase his Life with Money which is made of Periwinkle-shell both black and white strung like Beads They observe several Ceremonies in their Reigious Rites Their Religion and are said to Worship the Devil which usually they perform once or twice a Year unless upon some extraordinary occasion as the making of War or the like when their Corn is ripe which is usually about Michaelmas The day being appointed by their Chief Priest or Pawaw most of them go a Hunting for Venison when they are all assembled if the Priest wants Money he then tells them their God will accept no Offering but Money which the People believing every one gives according to his ability the Priest takes the Money and putting it into some Dishes sets them upon the top of their low flat-roofed Houses and so falls a calling upon their God to come and receive it which with many loud hollows and out-crys striking the ground with sticks and beating themselves is performed by the Priest and seconded by the People After being thus wearied a Devil by his conjuration appears amongst them sometimes in the shape of a Fowl a Beast or a Man which so amazeth the people that they dare not stir the Priest improves the opportunity and stepping out makes sure of the Money and then returns to lay the Spirit who is often gone before he comes back having taken some of the company along with him but if at such times any English come among them it puts a period to their proceedings and they will desire his absence saying Their God will not come till
of three and the rest are supplied by the understanding of the Hearer imperfect in their Tenses wanting in their Moods Participles Adverbs Conjunctions Interjections I have made it my business to understand it that I might not want an Interpreter on any occasion and I must say I know not a Language spoken in Europe that hath words of more sweetness or greatness in Accent and Emphasis than theirs for Instance Octorockon Rancocas Oricton Schakamazon Poquesin all which are Names of Places and have grandeur in them of words of sweetness Anna is Mother Issimus a Brother Netap a Friend Vsque oret very good Poru Bread Metse cat Matta no Hatta to have Payo to come Sepassen Passejou the Names of Places Tamane Secane Menanse Secatereus are the Names of Persons if one ask them of any thing they have not they will answer Matta ne hotta which to Translate is not I have instead of I have not Of their Customs and Manners Customs and Manners there is much to be said I will begin with Children So soon as they are born they wash them in Water and while very young and in cold Weather to chuse they plunge them in the Rivers to harden and embolden them Having wrapt them in a Clout they lay them on a strait thin Board a little more than the length breadth of the Child and swaddle it fast upon the Board to make it streight wherefore all Indians have flat Heads and thus they carry them at their Backs The Children will go very young at nine Months commonly they wear only a small Clout round their Waist till they are big if Boys they go a Fishing till ripe for the Woods which is about fifteen then they Hunt and having given some proofs of their Manhood by a good return of Skins they may Marry else it is shame to think of a Wife The Girls stay with their Mothers and help to Hoe the Ground Plant Corn and carry Burthens and they do well to use them to that Young which they must do when they are Old for the Wives are the true Servants of their Husbands otherwise the Men are very affectionate to them When the young Women are fit for Marriage they wear something upon their Heads for an Advertisement but so as their Faces are hardly to be seen but when they please The Age they Marry at if Women is about thirteen and fourteen if Men seventeen and eighteen they are rarely elder their Houses are Mats or Barks of Trees set on Poles in the fashion of an English Barn but out of the power of the Winds for they are hardly higher than a man they lie on Reeds or Grass In travel they lodge in the Woods about a great fire with the Mantle-Duffils they wear by day wrapt about them and a few Boughs stuck round them Their Diet is Maiz or Indian-Corn divers ways prepapared sometimes roasted in the Ashes sometimes beaten and boiled with Water which they call Homine they also make Cakes not unpleasant to eat they have likewise several sorts of Beans and Pease that are good nourishment and the Woods and Rivers are their Larder If an European comes to see them Their Enterment or calls for Lodging at their House or Wigwam they give him the best place and first cut If they come to viâ—â—t us they salute us with an It ah which is as much as to say Good be to you and set them down which is mostly on the ground close to their Heels their Legs upright may be they speak not a word more but observe all passages If you give them any thing to eat or drink well for they will not ask and be it little or much if it be with kindness they are well-pleased else they go away sullen but say nothing They are great concealers of their own resentments brought to it I believe by the revenge that hath been practised among them in either of these they are not exceeded by the Italians A Tragical Instance fell out since I came into the Country A King's Daughter thinking herself slighted by her Husband in suffering another Women to lie down between them rose up went out pluckt a Root out of the ground and eat it upon which she immediately died and for which last Week he made an Offering to her Kindred for Atonement Liberty and Marriage as two others did to the Kindred of their Wives that died a natural death for till Widowers have done so they must not Marry again Some of the young Women are said to take undue liberty before Marriage for a Portion but when Married chaste when with Child they know their Husbands no more till delivered and during their Month they touch no Meat they eat but with a stick lest they should defile it nor do their Husbands frequent them till that time be expired But in Liberality Their Liberality they excel nothing is too good for their Friend give them a fine Gun Coat or other thing it may pass twenty hands before it sticks light of heart strong affections but soon spent the most merry Creatures that live Feast and Dance perpetually they never have much nor want much Wealth circulateth like the Blood all parts partake and though none shall want what another hath yet exact observers of Property Some Kings have sold others presented me with several Parcels of Land the Pay or Present I made them were not hoarded by the particular owners but the neighbouring Kings and their Clans being present when the Goods were brought out the parties chiefly concerned consulted what and to whom they should give them to every King then by the hands of a person for that work appointed is a portion sent so sorted and folded and with that gravity that it is admirable then that King subdivideth it in like manner among the dependants they hardly leaving themselves an equal share with one of their Subjects and be it on such occasions as Festivals or at their common Meals the Kings distribute and to themselves last they care for little and the reason is a little contents them In this they are sufficiently revenged on us if they are ignorant of our pleasures they are also free from our pains They are not disquieted with Bills of Lading and Exchange nor perplexed with Chancery-Suits and Exchequer-Reckonings we sweat and toil to live their pleasure feeds them I mean their Hunting Fishing and Fowling and this Table is spread every where they eat twice a day Morning and Evening their Seats and Tables are the Ground Since the Europeans came into those parts they are grown great lovers of strong Liquors Rum especially and for it they exchange the richest of their Skins and Furs If they are healed with Liquors they are restless till they have enough to sleep and this is their cry Some more and I will go to sâ—â—ep but when drunk one of the most wretched'st spectacles in the world In sickness impatient to be cured for it