MODE OF TREATING A GUEST. 15 



either by the forcible abduction of the women, 

 or a deficiency in hospitality on their occasional 

 interchange of visits, which was considered an in 

 sult to the guest, demanding a bloody revenge. 



Their wars were seldom carried on openly ; 

 they preferred stratagem and artifice ; and the 

 conquerors practised the greatest cruelties on 

 the conquered. If a party was so beleaguered 

 as to lose all hope of effectual resistance, or of 

 securing their safety by flight, knowing that no 

 mercy would await a surrender, their warlike 

 spirit did not desert them; they first mur 

 dered their women and children, and then 

 rushed furiously on the enemy, to sell their 

 lives as dearly as possible. Their weapons were 

 lances, and bows and poisoned arrows. 



To treat a guest with the utmost politeness, 

 and leave no cause for hostility, the host was 

 expected to heat his subterranean dwelling till 

 it became almost insupportable : both parties 

 then cast of all their attire, an enormous quan 

 tity of food was placed before the guest, and 

 the fire was continually fed. When the visitor 

 declared that he could no longer eat, or endure 

 the heat of the place, all that courtesy required 



