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trading with such of their countrymen as seldom visit the 

 Company's Settlement : [332] among themselves, however, the 

 crime of theft is seldom heard of. 



When two parties of those Indians meet, the ceremonies 

 which pass between them are quite different from those made 

 use of in Europe on similar occasions ; for when they advance 

 within twenty or thirty yards of each other, they make a full 

 halt, and in general sit or lie down on the ground, and do not 

 speak, for some minutes. At length one of them, generally 

 an elderly man, if any be in company, breaks silence, by 

 acquainting the other party with every misfortune that has 

 befallen him and his companions from the last time they 

 had seen or heard of each other ; and also of all deaths 

 and other calamities that have befallen any other Indians 

 during the same period, at least as many particulars as have 

 come to his knowledge. 



When the first has finished his oration, another aged 

 orator, (if there be any) belonging to the other party relates, 

 in like manner, all the bad news that has come to his know- 

 ledge ; and both parties never fail to plead poverty and famine 

 on all occasions. If those orations contain any news that in 

 the least affect the other party, it is not long before some of 

 them begin to sigh and sob, and soon after break out into a 

 loud cry, which is generally accompanied by most of the 

 grown persons of both sexes ; and sometimes it is common to 

 see them all, men, women, and children, in one universal howl. 

 The young girls, in [333] particular, are often very obliging on 

 those occasions ; for I never remember to have seen a crying 

 match (as I called it) but the greatest part of the company 

 assisted, although some of them had no other reason for it, but 

 that of seeing their companions do the same. When the first 

 transports of grief subside, they advance by degrees, and both 

 parties mix with each other, the men always associating with 

 the men, and the women with the women. If they have any 

 tobacco among them, the pipes are passed round pretty freely, 



