( 145 ) 

 on this head. Accident has fometimes 



\ 



made me unavoidably a fpeftator of 

 fcenes I fliould have chofen to have with- 

 drawn myfelf from j and fo far I am in- 

 ftrufted. As there are no fixed feafons 

 for their religious exercifes, the younger 

 people wait till the elders find themfelves 

 devoutly difpofed ; who begin the cere- 

 mony by feveral deep and difmal groanSj 

 which rife gradually to a hideous kind 

 of fmging, from which they proceed to 

 enthufiafm, and work themfelves into a 

 difpofition that borders on madnefs ; for 

 fuddenly jumping up, they fnatch fire- 

 brands from the fire, put them in their 

 mouths, and run about burning every 

 body they come near: at other times, k 

 is a cuftom with them to wound one 

 another with fharp mufcle-fiiells till 

 they are befmeared with blood. Thefe 

 orgies continue till thofe who prefide in 

 them foam at the mouth, grow faint, are 

 exbaufted with fatigue, and difTolve in a 



L profufion 



