Htilorie of the Indies, lib.?. 



pany a Nobleman that was dead ? hcefaid vntdthcm, 

 that thole that were in the other life, would make fmall 

 account of the dead,ifthey gave him a blind man for a 

 companion, & that it were better to give him an atten 

 dant that had both his eyes ; this reafon being found 

 good by the Barbarians, they let him go. Befids this fu- 

 perdition of fac'rificing men tQ the ded, which they vfe 

 but to great Perfonages , there is another far more ge 

 neral & common in all the70*//, which is>- to fet -mcate 

 and drinke vpon the grave of the deacUmagjning they 

 did feede thereon , the which hath likewife be.ene an 

 error amongft the Ancients , as fax&tfttguttim writes, 

 and therefore they gave them meateand drinke. ,At 



'this day many Indian Infidclk, doe fecretly draw their 

 dead out of the churchyard, and bimethernonhilles, 

 or vpon paflages of mountaines , or elfe in theirowne 

 houfes. They have alfo vfed to put gold and filver in 

 th eir mouth 3 hands,and bofome.and to apparell them 

 with new garments durable , and well lined vndcr the 

 herfe- 



Thcy beleeve that the (bules of the dead wandred vp 

 and downeand indure coldejthirft^unger and travcll, 

 and for this caufe they make their annivcriaries, cariy- 

 ing them clothcs > meate.and driuk s g..So as the Prelates, 



. nnhcir Synodes, above ail th ings, give charge to their 

 Priefts to let the Indians vnderffand, that the offerings 

 that are fet vpon the feptilchre,is not to feede the dead, 

 but for the poore and minifters 5 and that God alone 

 dooth feede the foules in the other life feeing they 



\ neither eate nor drinke.any corporall thing, being ve 

 ry necdefull they (hould vnderftandit, left they fliould 

 convert this religious vfe into a fuperftition of the gen 

 tiles, as many doe. 



of 



