OF LANCASTER COUNTY. G5 



Some of tlie young women are said to take undue liberty before mar- 

 riage, for a portion ; but when married, chaste. When with child they 

 know their husbands no more, till delivered ; and during their month 

 they touch no meat they eat but with a stick, lest they should defile it ; 

 nor do their husbands frequent them till that time be expired. 



XIX. "But in liberality they excel; nothing is too good for their 

 friend: give them a fine gun, coat, or other thing, it may pass twenty 

 hands before it sticks : light of heart, strong affections, but soon spent. 

 The most merry creatures that live, feast and dance perpetually ; they 

 never have much, nor want much : wealth circulateth like the blood ; all 

 parts partake ; and though none shall want what another hath, yet exact 

 observers of property. Some kings have sold, others presented me Avith 

 several parcels of land ; the pay or presents I made them were not 

 hoarded by the particular owners ; but the neighboring kings and their 

 clans being present, when the goods were brought out, the parties chiefly 

 concerned, consulted what, and to whom, they should give them. To 

 every king then, by the hands of a person for that work appointed is a 

 proportion sent, so sorted and folded, and with that gravity that is 

 admirable. Then that king subdivideth it in like manner amouo- his 

 dependants, they hardly leaving themselves an equal share with one of 

 their subjects; and be it on such occasions as festivals, or at their common 

 meals, the kings distribute and to themselves last. They care for little; 

 because they want but little; and the reason is, a little contents them. 

 In this they are sufficiently revenged on us ; if they are ignorant of our 

 pleasures, they are also free from our pains. They are not disquieted 

 with bills of lading and exchange, nor perplexed with chancery suits, 

 and exchequer reckonings. We sweat and toil to live; their pleasure 

 feeds them; I mean their hunting, fishing and fowling; and this table is 

 spread every Avhere. They eat twice a day, morning and evening; their 

 seats and table are the ground. Since the Europeans came into these 

 parts they are grown great lovers of strong liquors^ rum especially; and 

 for it exchange the richest of their skins and furs. If they are heated 

 with liquors, they are restless till they have enough to sleep ; that is their 

 cry. Some more and I will go to sleep ; but, when drunk, one of the most 

 wretched spectacles in the world! 



XX. "In sickness, impatient to be cured; and for it, give any thing 

 especially for their children ; to whom they are extremely natural. They 

 drink, at those times, a teran^ or decoction of some roots in spring water • 

 and, if thc}^ eat any flesh, it must be of the female of any creature. If 

 they die, they bury them with their apparel, be they man or woman; and 

 the nearest of kin fling in something precious with them, as a token of 

 their love. Their mourning is blacking of their faces ; which they continue 

 for a year. They are choice of the graves of their dead ; for, lest they 



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