DON FELIX d'aZARA. 41 



their part, have no kind of respect for their parents ; 

 herein maintaining their universal principle, of 

 every one doing as he pleases, without being hin- 

 dered by any consideration or authority. 



" The heads of families, and they alone, to the 

 exclusion of the women and children, very often 

 get dnmk with brandy, or chicka, which is pre- 

 pared from honey. The duration of their lives 

 appears longer than ours. They are not, however, 

 without their doctors, whose only remedy is sucking 

 over the stomach of the patient with great force, 

 thereby extracting the malady. 



" When an Indian dies he is buried with his 

 arms, his clothes and furniture. Frequently his 

 best horse is slaughtered upon his tomb. The 

 nearest relatives weep much, and their grief is 

 poignant. If he be a father, husband, or adult 

 brother, the daughters, and any sisters who are 

 married, together with the wife, cut off one of the 

 joints of a finger ; this they do for every death, 

 beginning with the Httle finger. They also wound 

 their arras, breasts, and sides, with the knife or 

 spear of the deceased. They then pass two months 

 in their booths in retirement, and do little else 

 than weep, taking little nourishment. I have not 

 seen one grown up woman among them with her 

 fingers uninjured, or without many wounds on her 

 body. The husband, again, does not mourn for 

 his wife ; nor a father for his younger children. 

 But should these be grown up, then they conceal 

 themselves, quite naked, for two whole days in 



