422 JAMAICA. 



vering it ; and the meeting concludes \vi:h eating their colhition, 

 drinking, dancing, and vociferation. After this ceremony is over, 

 the widow, or widower, is at hberty to take another fpoufe im- 

 mediately ; and the term of mourning is at an end. 



TheNegroe funeral calls to mind the late-wake oi \\\t highlands 

 in Scotland, thus dcfcribed by Mr. Pennant. The evening after 

 the death of arty perfon, the relations and friends of the deceafed 

 meet at the houfe, attended by bag-pipe and fiddle. The nearefl of 

 kin, be it wife, fon, or daughter, opens a melancholy ball, dancing 

 and greeting (/. e. crying violently) at the fame time. This conti- 

 nues till day-light, but with fuch gambols and frolics among the 

 younger part of the company, that the lofs which occafioned them 

 is often more than fupplied by the conlequences of that night. If 

 the corpfe remains unburied for two. nights, the fame rites are re- 

 newed. Thus, Scythian-like, they rejoice at the deliverance of 

 their friends out of this life of mifery. The coranich, or finging 

 at funerals, is ftill in ufe in fome places. The fongs are generally 

 in praife of the deceafed, or a recital of the valiant deeds of him 

 or his anceftors. 



Cambden, in his account of the antient Irhh, mentions their 

 cuftom of ufuig earned reproaches and export ulat ions with the 

 corpfe, for quitting this world, where he (or flie) enjoyed fo many 

 good things, fo kind a hufband, fuch fine children, &c. There 

 feems a ftriking conformity between this antient rite and that in 

 ufe among the Negroes. 



The Negroes flrew grave-dirt on the highway when any thing 

 is ftolen from them, intimating this curfc : " May the thief be re- 

 *' duced to the fame ftate and condition as the corpfe which lies bu- 

 *' ried in the grave whence this dirt was taken ! may his exiftence 

 " be fhort! may he not live to enjoy his theft! but be crumbled 

 »' and trampled under foot, like the foil of a public road !" 



This dirt is a material ingredient in their folemn oaths, which 

 are adminiftered in the following manner, A fmall quantity of 

 the earth is mixed with water in a calibafli. The perfon who 

 tenders the oath dips his finger into the mixture, and croffes va- 

 rious parts of the juror's naked body, repeating the following im- 

 precation as he touches each part, the juror aflenting at the clofe 



of 



