The following excerpt focuses on the Indians, their lives and customs. (Transcribed as written)
The Indians, which were the Inhabitants of America, when the Spaniards and other Europeans discovered the several Parts of that Country, are the people which we reckon the Natives thereof, as indeed they were, when we first found out those parts, and appeared therein. Yet this has not wrought in me a full satisfaction, to allow these People to have been the Ancient Dwellers of the New World, or the Tract of Land we call America. The reasons that I have to think otherwise are too many to set down here; but I shall give the reader a few, before I proceed.
In Carolina are the fairest Marks of a Deluge (that at some time has probably made strange Alterations, as to the Station that Country was then in) that ever I saw, or I think, read of, in any History. Amongst the other Subterraneous Matters, that have been discover'd, we found, in digging of a Well that was 26 foot deep, at the Bottom thereof, many large Pieces of the Tulip- Tree, and several other sorts of Wood, some of which were cut and notch'd and some squared, as the Joices of a House are, which appear'd (in the Judgment of all that saw them) to be wrought with Iron Instruments; it seeming impossible for anything made of Stone, or what they were found to make use of, to cut wood in that manner. It cannot be argued that the Wood so cut, might float from some other Continent; because Hickory and the Tulip Tree are spontaneous in America, and in no other places, that I could ever learn. It is to be acknowledged that the Spaniards give us relations of magnificent Buildings, which were raised by the Indians of Mexico and other Parts, which they discovered and conquered; amongst whom no Iron Instruments were found; but 'tis a great misfortune that no Person in that Expedition was so curious, as to take an exact Draught of the Fabricks of those People, which would have been a discovery of great Value, and very acceptable to the Ingenious; for as to the Politeness of Stones, it may be effected by Collision, and Grinding, which is of a contrary Nature, on Several Accounts, and disproves not my Arguments in the least.
The next is the Earthen Pots that are often found under Ground, and at the Foot of the Banks where the Water has often washed them away. They are for the most part broken in pieces; but we find them of a different sort of comparison of those the Indians use at this day, who have had no other ever since the English discovered America. The Bowels of the Earth cannot have altered them, since they are thicker, of another Shape, and Composition, and nearly approach to the Urns of the Ancient Romans.
The Peaches, which are the only tame Fruit, or what is Foreign, that these people enjoy, which is an eastern Product, and will keep and retain its vegetative and growing Faculty, the longest of anything of that nature, that I know of. The Stone, as I elsewhere have remarked, is thicker than any other sort of Peaches in Europe, or of the European sort now growing in America, and is observed to grow if planted, after it has been for several Years laid by; and it seems very probable that these people might come from some Eastern Country; for when you ask them whence their forefathers came, that first inhabited the Country, they will point to the Westward and say. Where the Sun Sleeps, our Forefathers came Thence, which at that distance may be reckoned among the Eastern Parts of the World. And to this day they are a shifting, wandering People, for I know some Indian Nations that have changed their settlements many Hundred Miles, sometimes no less than a thousand, as is proved by the Savanna Indians, who formerly lived on the banks of the Mississippi, and removed thence to the Head of one of the Rivers of South Carolina; since which (for some dislike) most of them are removed to live in the quarters of the Iroquois or Sinnagars, which are on the Heads of the Rivers that Disgorge themselves into the Bay of Chesapeak.
I once met with a young Indian Woman that had been brought from beyond the Mountains, and was sold for a Slave into Virginia. She spoke the same language as the Coranine Indians that dwell near Cape-Look-Out, allowing for some few words, which were different, yet no otherwise, than they might understand one another very well.
The Indians of North Carolina are a well-shaped, clean-made People, of different Statures, as the Europeans are, yet chiefly inclined to be tall. They are a very straight People, and never bend forwards, or stoop in the shoulders, unless overpowered by Old Age. Their limbs are exceedingly well-shaped. As for their Legs and Feet they are generally the handsomest in the World. Their Bodies are a little Flat, which is occasioned by their being Laced hard down to a Board in their Infancy. This is all the Cradle they have, which I shall describe at large elsewhere; their Eyes are black or of a Dark Hazel; The White is marbled with red Streaks, which is ever common to these people, unless when sprung from a white Father or Mother. Their Colour is of a Tawny, which would not be so dark, did they not dawb themselves with Bear's Oil and a Colour like burnt Cork. This is begun in their Infancy and is continued for a long time, which fills the Pores, and enables them better to endure the Extremity of the Weather.
They are never bald on their Heads, although never so old, which I believe proceeds from their Heads being always uncovered, and the Greasing their Hair (so often as they do) with Bear's Fat, which is a great Nourisher of the Hair, and causes it to grow very fast. Amongst the Bear's Oil, (when they intend to be fine) they mix a certain red powder that comes from a Scarlet Root, which they get in the hilly country, near the foot of the great ridge of Mountains, and it is no where else to be found. They have this Scarlet Root in great esteem, and sell it for a great Price, one to another. The reason of its Value is, because they not only go a long way for it, but are in great danger of the Sinnagars or Iroquois, who are mortal Enemies to all our Indians, and very often take them Captives, to kill them before they return from their Voyage. The Tuskeruros and other Indians have often brought this seed with them from the Mountains, but it would never grow in our Land. With this and Bear's Grease they anoint their Heads and Temples, which is esteemed as ornamental, as sweet Powder to our Hair. Besides this Root has the Virtue of Killing Lice and suffers none to abide or breed in their Heads. For want of this Root they sometimes use Pecoon-Root, which is of a Crimson Colour, but it is apt to dye the Hair of an ugly Hue.
Their Eyes are commonly full and manly, and their Gate sedate and majestic. They never walk backward and forward as we do, nor contemplate on the Affairs of Loss and Gain; the things which daily perplex us. They are dexterous and steady both as to their Hands and Feet, to Admiration. They will walk over deep Brooks, and Creeks, on the smallest Poles, and that without any Fear or Concern. Nay an Indian will walk on the ridge of a Barn or House and look down the Gable-end and spit upon the Ground, as unconcerned as if he were walking on Terra Firma. In Running, Leaping or any such other exercise, their Legs seldom miscarry and give them a fall; and as for letting any thing fall out of their hands, I never yet knew one Example.
They are no Inventors of any Arts or Trades worthy of mention; the reason of which I take to be that they are not possessed with that Care and Thoughtfulness how to provide for the Necessaries of Life as the Europeans are; yet they will learn anything very soon. I have known an Indian stock Guns better than most of our Joiners, although he never saw one stocked before, and besides his Working-Tool was only a sorry Knife. I have also known several of them that were Slaves to the English, learn Handicraft Trades very handily and speedily.
I never saw a Dwarf among them nor one that was Hump-backed. Their teeth are yellow with Smoking Tobacco, which both Men and Women are much addicted to. They tell us, that they had Tobacco amongst them, before the European made any discovery of that Continent. It differs in the Leaf from the sweet-scented, and Oroonoko, which are the Plants we raised and cultivate in America. There differs likewise much in the Smell, when green, from our Tobacco before cured. They do not use the same way to cure it as we do; and therefore the Difference must be very considerable in Taste; for all Men (that know Tobacco) must allow, that it is the Ordering thereof which gives a Hogoo to that Weed, rather than any natural relish it possesses when green. Although they are great Smokers, yet they never are seen to take it in Snuff or chew it.
They have no hairs on their Faces (except some few,) and those but little. They are continually plucking it away from their Faces, by the Roots. Although we reckon these a very smooth People, and free from Hair; yet I once saw a middle-aged Man, who was hairy all down his back, the Hairs being above an inch long. As there are found very few or scarce any, Deformed or Cripples, amongst them, so neither did I ever see but one Blind Man, and then they would give me no account how his Blindness came. They had a Use for him, which was to lead him with a Girl, Woman, or Boy, by a string; so they put what burden they pleased upon his back and made him very serviceable upon all such occasions.
No people have better Eyes, or see better in the Night or Day, than the Indians. Some allege, that the Smoke of the Pitch-Pine, which they chiefly burn, doth both preserve and strengthen the Eyes, as perhaps it may do, because that Smoke never offends the Eyes, tho' you hold your Face over a Great Fire thereof. This is occasioned by the volatile Part of the Turpentine which rises with the Smoke, and is of a friendly, balsamick Nature; for the Ashes of the Pine Tree afford no fix'd salt in them. They let their Nails grow very long, which, they reckon, is the Use nails are design'd for, and laugh at the Europeans for pairing theirs, which they say, disarms them of that which Nature design'd for them.
They are not of so robust and strong bodies, as to lift great Burdens and endure Labour and Slavish work, as the Europeans are, yet some that are Slaves prove very good and laborious; but of themselves, they never work as the English do, taking care for no further what is than absolutely necessary to support life. In Traveling and Hunting they are very indefatigable; because that carries a Pleasure along with the Profit. I have known some of them very strong; and as for Running and Leaping they are extraordinary Fellows, and will dance for several Nights together with the greatest Briskness imaginable, their Wind never failing them.
Their Dances are of Different Natures and for every sort of Dance they have a tune which is allotted for that Dance; as, if it be a War Dance they will have a War-Like Tune, wherein they express with all the passion and Vehemence imaginable what they intend to do with their Enemies; how they will kill, roast, scalp, beat and make Captive, such and such numbers of them, and how many they have destroy'd before. All these Songs are made New for every Feast, nor is one and the same song sung at two several Festivals. Some one of the Nation (which have the best Gift of expressing their Design) is appointed by the King, and War Captains, to make these Songs.
Others are made for Feasts of another Nature; as, when several Towns, or different Nations have made Peace with one another; then the Song suits both Nations and relates, how the Bad Spirit makes them go to War, and Destroy one another; but it shall never be so again, but that their Sons and Daughters shall marry together, and the two Nations love one another and become as one People.
They have a third sort of Feasts and Dances, which are always when the Harvest of corn is ended, and in the Spring. The one to return thanks to the Good Spirit for the Fruits of the Earth, the other to beg the same blessings for the succeeding Tear. And, to encourage the Young Men to labour stoutly, in Planting their Maiz and Pulse, they set a sort of an idol in the field, which is dressed up exactly like an Indian, having all the Indian habits, besides abundance of Wampum, and their Money, made of Shells, that hang about his Neck. The Image none of the young Men dare approach; for the Old Ones will not suffer them to come near him, but tell them that he is some famous Indian Warrior, that died a great while ago, and now is come amongst them to see if they work well, which, if they do, he will go to the good Spirit and speak to Him to send them Plenty of Corn and make all the young Men expert hunters and Mighty Warriors. All this While, the King and Old Men sit around the Image, and seemingly pay a profound Respect to the same. One great Help to these Indians in carrying on these Cheats, and inducing the Youths to do what they please is the uninterrupted silence which is ever kept and observed, with all the Respect and Veneration imaginable.
At these Feasts, which are set out with all the magnificence their fare allows of, the Masquerades begin at night and not Before. There is commonly a Fire made in the Middle of the House, which is the largest in the Town, and is very often the Dwelling of their King, or War Captain, where sit two men on the Ground, upon a Mat; one with a rattle made of a Gourd, with some Beans in it; the other with a Drum made of an Earthen Pot, covered with a dressed Deer Skin, and one Stick in his Hand to beat thereon, and so they both begin the Song appointed. At the same time one Drums and the other Rattles, which is all the artificial Music of their own Making I ever saw among them. To these two Instruments they sing, which carries no Air with it, but is a sort of unsavory Jargon; yet their Cadences and raising of their Voices are formed with that Equality and Exactness, that (to us Europeans) it seems admirable how they should continue their Songs, without once missing to agree, each with the other's Note and Tune.
As for their Dancing, were there Masters of the Profession amongst them, as there are with us, they would dearly earn their money; for these Creatures take the most pains with it that Men are able to endure. I have seen thirty odd together a-dancing until every one dropp'd down with Sweat, as if Water had been poured down their Backs. They use those hard Labours to make them able to endure Fatigue, and improve their Wind, which indeed is very long and durable, it being a hard matter, in any exercise, to dispossess them of it.
At these Feasts they meet from all the Towns within Fifty or Sixty Miles around, where they buy and sell several Commodities, as we do at Fairs and Markets. Besides, they game very much, and often strip themselves of all they have in the World, and what is more, I have known several of them sell themselves away, so that they have remained the Winner's Servants, till their Relations or themselves could raise the money to redeem them; and when this happens the Loser is never dejected or melancholy at the loss, but laughs and seems no less contented than if he had won. They never differ at Gaming, nor did I ever see a Dispute about the Legality thereof, so much as rise amongst them.
The chiefest Game is a sort of Arithmetic, which is managed by a Parcel of small split Reeds, the thickness of a small Bent; these are made very nicely, so that they part and are tractable in their Hands. They are fifty-one in number, their length about seven inches; when they play they throw part of them to their Antagonist; the art is to discover, upon sight, how many you have, and what you throw to him that plays with you. Some are so expert with their numbers that they will tell ten times together what they threw out of their Hands. Although the whole Play is carried on with the quickest Motion its possible to use, yet some are so expert at this game as to win great Indian Estates by this Play. A good set of these reeds, fit to Play withal, are valued and sold for a dressed Doe Skin.
They have several other Plays and Games, as with the Kernels or Stones of Persimmons, which are in effect the same as our Dice, because Winning or Losing depend on which side appears uppermost, and how they happen to fall together. Another Game is managed with a Batoon and a Ball, and resembles our Trap-ball; besides several Nations have several Games and Pastimes which are not used by others.
These Savages live in Wigwams, or Cabins built of Bark, which are made round like an Oven to prevent any danger by hard Gales of Wind. They make the Fire in the middle of the House, and have a Hole at the top of the Roof, right above the Fire, to let out the smoke. These Dwellings are as Hot as Stoves, where the Indians sleep and Sweat all night. The Floors thereof are never paved nor swept, so that they have always loose earth on them.
They are often troubled with a multitude of Fleas, especially near the Places where they dress their Deer Skins, because that Hair harbours them, yet I have never felt any ill, unsavory Smell in their Cabins, whereas, should we live in our Houses as they do, we should be poisoned with our own Nastiness; which confirms these Indians to be, as they really are, some of the sweetest People in the world.
The Bark they make their Cabins withal is generally Cypress, or red or white Cedar, and sometimes when they are a great way from any of these Woods, they make use of Pine Bark, which is the Worser sort. In building these fabricks they get very long Poles of Pine, Cedar, Hickory or any other Wood that will bend; these are the thickness of the small of a Man's Leg, at the thickest end of which they generally strip off the bark, and warm them well in the fire, which makes them tough and fit to bend; afterwards they stick the thickest ends of them in the ground, above two yards asunder, in a circular form, the distance they design the Cabin to be (which is not always round but sometimes oval); then they bend the tops and bring them together and bind their ends with bark of trees, that is proper for that use, as Elm is, or sometimes the Moss that grows on the Trees, and is a yard or two long and never Rots. Then they brace them with other poles, so that they are very warm and tight, and will keep firm against all the Weathers that blow. They have other sorts of Cabins without Windows, which are for their Granaries, Skins, and Merchandizes. Others that are covered overhead and the rest left open for air. These have Reed Hurdles like Tables, to lie and sit on in summer, and serve for pleasant Banqueting Houses in the Hot Season of the Year. The Cabins they dwell in have Benches all around, except where the door stands. On these they lay Beasts-Skins and Mats made of Rushes, whereon they sleep and loll. In one of these several Families commonly live, though all related to one another.
As to the Indians Food, it is of several sorts, which are as follows:
Venison, and Fawns in the Bag, cut out of the Doe's Belly, Fish of all sorts, the Lamprey-Eel excepted, and the Sturgeon our Salt-Water Indians will not touch, Bear and Beaver, Panther, Pole-Cat, Wild-Cat, Possum, Raccoon, Hares and Squirrels roasted with their Guts in, Snakes, all Indians will not eat them, tho' some do, all wild Fruits that are Palatable, some of which they dry and keep against Winter, as all sorts of Fruits, and Peaches which they dry, and make Quiddonies, and Cakes, that are pleasant, and a little tartish, young Wasps when they are white in the Combs before they can fly, this is esteemed a dainty, All sorts of Tortoise and Terebins, Shell-Fish and Stingray or Scate, dryed, Gourds, Melons, Cucumbers, Squashes, Pulse of all sorts, Rockahomine Meal, which is their Maiz, parched and pounded into powder, Fowl of all sorts, that are eatable, Ground-Nuts or Wild Potatoes, Acorns and Acorn Oil, Wild- Bulls, Beef, Mutton, Pork, etc., from the English, Indian Corn, or Maiz, made into several sorts of Bread, Ears of Corn roasted in the Summer or preserved against the Winter.
The Victuals is Common, throughout the whole Kindred Relations, and often to the whole Town; especially, when they are in Hunting-Quarters, then they all fare alike, whichsoever of them kills the Game. They are very kind and charitable to one another, but more especially to those of their own Nation; for if any one of them has suffered any Loss by Fire or otherwise, they order the grieved persons to make a Feast, and invite them all thereto, which, on the day appointed, they come to, and after every Man's mess of Victuals is dealt to him, one of their Speakers or grave old Men, makes an Harangue, and acquaints the Company that that Man's House has been burnt, wherein all his Goods were destroyed, that he and his Family very narrowly escaped, that he is every Man's friend in that Company and, that it is all their Duties to help him, as he would do to any of them, had like Misfortune befallen them. After this Oration is over, every Man, according to his quality, throws him down upon the Ground some Present, which is commonly Beads, Ronoak, Peak, Skins or Furs, and which very often amounts to treble the amount he has suffered. The same assistance they give to any Man that wants to build a Cabin, or make a Canoe. They say it is our Duty thus to do; for there are several Works that one Man cannot effect, therefore we must give him our help, otherwise our Society will fall, and we shall be deprived of those urgent Necessities which life requires. They have no Fences to part one anothers Lots in their Corn-Fields, but every Man knows his own, and it scarce ever happens that they rob one another of so much as an Bar of Corn, which if any is found to do. he is sentenced by the Elders to work, and plant for him that was robbed, till he is recompensed for all the damage he has suffered in his Corn-Field, and this is punctually performed, and the Thief held in Disgrace that steals from any of his Country-Folks. It often happens that a Woman is destitute of her Husband, and has a great many Children to maintain; such a Person they always help, and make their young men plant, reap and do everything for her that she is not capable of doing for herself; yet they do not allow any one to be idle, but to em-ploy themselves in some Work or other.
They never fight with one another, unless drunk, nor do you ever hear any scolding amongst them. They say tho Europeans are always wrangling and uneasy, and wonder they do not go out of this World, since they are so uneasy and discontented in it. All their Misfortunes and Losses end in Laughter; for if their Cabins take fire, and ail their Goods are burnt therein, (indeed all will strive to prevent further Damage whilst there is any possibility) yet such a misfortune ends in a hearty fit of laughter, unless some of their Kinsfolk and Friends have lost their Lives; but then the Case is altered and they become very pensive, and go into deep Mourning, which is continued for a considerable time; sometimes longer or shorter, just according to the Dignity of the Person, and the Number of Relations he had near to him.
When an Indian is dead, the greater person, the more expensive is his Funeral. The first thing which is done is, to place the nearest Relations near the Corps, who mourn and weep very much, having their hair hung down their Shoulders, in a very forlorn manner. After the dead Person has laid a Day and a Night in one of their Hurdies of Canes, commonly in some out-House made for that purpose, those that officiate about the Funeral go into Town, and the first young Men they Meet withal that have Blankets or Match Coats on, whom they think fit for their Turn, they strip them from their Backs, who suffer them to do so without any Resistance. In these they wrap the dead Bodies, and convey them with two or three Mats which the Indians make of Rushes or Cane; and last of all they have a long Web of woven Reeds, or hollow Canes, which is the Coffin of the Indians, and is brought around several times and is tied fast at both ends, which indeed looks very decent and well.
Then the Corps is brought out of the House into the Orchard of Peach Trees, where another Hurdle is made to receive it, about which comes all the Relations and Nation that the dead person be- longed to, besides several from other Nations in Alliance with them; all which sit down on the Ground, upon Mats spread there for that purpose; where the Doctor or Conjurer appears, and, after some time, makes a sort of O-yes, at which all are very silent. Then he begins to give an account who the dead person was, and how stout a man he approved himself; how many Enemies and Captives he had killed and taken; how strong, tall and nimble he was; that he was a great Hunter, a lover of his Country, and possessed of a great many beautiful Wives and children, esteemed the greatest of Blessings among these Savages, in which they have a true Notion.
Thus this Orator runs on, highly extolling the dead Man, for his Valour, Conduct, Strength, Riches and Good Humour; and enumerating his Guns, Slaves and almost everything he was possess'd of, when living. After which, he addresses himself to the People of that Town or Nation, and bids them Supply the Dead Man's Place, by following his steps, who he assures them, is gone into the Country of Souls (which they think lies a great way off, in this World, which the Sun visits, in his ordinary Course) and that he will have the enjoyment of handsome young Women, great Store of Deer to hunt, never Meet with Hunger, Cold or Fatigue, but everything to answer his Expectation an I Desire. This is the Heaven they propose to themselves: but on the contrary, for those Indians that are lazy, thievish amongst themselves, bad Hunters and no Warriors, nor of much use to the Nation, to such they allot in the next World, Hunger, Cold, Troubles, Ugly Old Women for their Companions, with Snakes and all sorts of Nasty Victuals to feed on. Thus is marked out their Heaven and Hell.
After all this Harangue, he diverts the People with some of their Traditions, as when there was a Violent hot Summer or very hard Winter; when any notable Distempers raged amongst them, when they were at War with such and such Nations, how victorious they were, and what were the Names of their War-Captains. To prove the times more exactly, he produces tho Records of the Country, which are a Parcel of Reeds of different lengths, with several distinct marks known to none but themselves; by which they seem to guess, very exactly, at Accidents that happened many years ago, nay two or three Ages or more. The reason I have to believe what they tell me, on this Account, is because I have been at the meetings of several Indian Nations; and they agree in relating the same Circumstances, as to Time, very exactly, as, for example they say, there was so hard a winter in Carolina 105 years ago, that the great Sound was frozen over and the Wild geese came into the Woods to eat Acorns and they were so tame (I suppose through Want) that they were killed abundantly in the Woods by knocking them on the Head with Sticks.
But, to return to the dead Man. When this Long Tale is ended by him that spoke first; perhaps a second begins another long Story; so a third and fourth if there be so many Doctors present; which all tell one and the same thing. At last the Corps is brought away from that Hurdle to the Grave, by four young Men, attended by the Relations, the King, Old Men and all the Nation. When they come to the Sepulchre, which is about six foot deep, and eight foot long, having at each end, (that is, at the Head and Foot) a Light-Wood or Pitch-Pine Fork driven close down the sides c£ the Grave, firmly into the Ground; (these two forks are to contain a Ridge-Pole, as you shall understand presently) before they lay the Corps into the Grave, they cover the bottom two or three times over with Bark of Trees, then they let down the Corps (with two Belts, that the Indians carry their Burdens withal very leisurely upon the said Barks; then they lay over a Pole of the Same Wood, in the two Forks, and having a great many Pieces of Pitch-Pine logs, about two foot and a half long, they stick them in the sides of the Grave down each end, and near the top thereof, where the other Ends lie on the Ridge-Pole, so that they are declining like the roof of a House. These being very thick plac'd they cover them (many times double) with Bark. Then they throw the Earth thereon that came out of the Grave, and beat it down very firm, by this means the Dead Body lies in a Vault, nothing touching him. When I saw this way of burial, I was mightily pleased with it, esteeming it very pleasant and decent, as having seen a great many Christians buried without the tenth part of that Ceremony and Decency.
When the Flesh is rotten and Moulder'd from the Bones they take up the Carcass and clean the Bones, and joint them together; afterwards they dress them up in pure white dressed Deer-Skins, and lay them amongst their Grandees and Kings in the Quiogozon, which is their royal Tomb or Burial-Place of their Kings and War Captains. This is a very large Magnificent Cabin, which is raised at the Publick Charge of the Nation, and maintained in a great deal of form and Neatness. About seven foot high is a Floor or Loft made, on which lie all their Princes and great Men, who have died for several hundred years, all attired in the dress I have before told you of. No person is to have his bones lie here and be thus dressed, unless he gives a round sum of their Money to the Rulers, for Admittance. If they remove never so far, to live in a Foreign Country, they never fail to take all these dead Bones with them, tho' the Tediousness of their short daily Marches keeps them never so long on their Journey. They reverence and adore this Quiogozon, with all the Veneration and Respect that is possible for such a People to discharge, and had rather lose all than have any Violence or Injury offer'd thereto.
These Savages differ some small matter in their Burials; some burying right upwards, and otherwise, as you are acquainted withal from my Journal from South to North Carolina. Yet they all agree in their Mourning, which is to appear every night at the Sepulchre, and howl and weep in a very dismal manner, having their Faces dawb'd over with Light-Wood Soot, (which is the same as Lamp-Black) and Bears Oil. This renders them as black as it is possible to make themselves, so that theirs very much resembles the Faces of Executed Men boil'd in Tar. If the Dead Person was a Grandee, to carry on the Funeral Ceremonies, they hire people to cry and Lament over the Dead Body. Of this sort, there are several that practice this for a livelihood, and are very expert at shedding Abundance of Tears, and howling like Wolves and so discharging their office with abundance of Hypocrisy and Art. The Women are never Accompanied with these Ceremonies after Death; and to what World they allot that sex I never understood, unless to wait on their dead Husbands; but they have more wit than some of the Eastern Nations; who sacrifice themselves to accompany their Husbands into the next World. It is the Dead Man's relations, by Blood, as his Uncles, Brothers, Sisters, Cousins, Sons and Daughters, that mourn in good earnest; the Wives thinking their Duty is discharged, and that they are become free, when their Husband is dead; so, as fast as they can, look out for another, to supply his Place.
