A M E KI.C.A. 



Chap. IF. 



I , h3 r ' u ' thC ^;? g ° ^ ^ NamC faC ° S > the **«**rmi#l being not much 

 lels chan a Calf, with a long Neck like a Camel,. , but of feveral colours - for 

 fome are white, fome black, and others fpeckled, having an odd Look, efpe- 

 f daily when they are ty'd, and ftand ftill without any motion, ftarine with 

 goggle.eyes on their Owners : Sometimes in a, moody humor, upon a fud. 

 den taking a freak, they run up to the top of almoit inaccefllble Mountains, 

 where both the frantick Beaft and his Burthen are loft. The Tocos fometimes 

 l.kewife takes fudden Pets, and fuftian Fits, often doing the forward Wife, 

 tumbling over and over with their Goods, and will not be rais'd, their moo- 

 dmefs continuing, with beating, nay though they cut them to pieces : but the 

 " belt way is to fit down by them, and wait fome hours till their humor be* 

 « ing lpent they rife again of their own accords. Thefe Beafts are much in^ 

 clind toa Difeafe calfd Carajhe or the. Mange, of which they generally 

 die : and becaufe the Difeafe is very catching, they ftraight bury the infeft. , 

 " ed alive, lo the better to preferve the reft. * i 



^ Grotius alfo miftakes, when he compares the Mexican <Peke with the Dutch] 

 %eke, for though many Mexican Places, Mountains, and Rivers, terminate ia 

 Teke, yet it fignifies not a 'Brook or Rivulet, for that they call Atlaubtli 



Jobnde Laet tells alfo, -That with great diligence he found a Mexican Oi&io* 

 nary Printed by the Spaniards in Mexico, to find if there were any words ia it ' 

 which agreed with any of thofe European Languages that he underftood, but 

 found not one. 



It is the fame cafe with the Cuftoms and Conftitutions between the Nori»e~ 

 guns and Northern Americans : for what concerns Hunting, how many People 

 have formerly liv'd by it > The antient Germans, and to this day the Tartars 

 make it their whole bufinefs, excelling in that Art all other Nations. Befides 

 that the more ferious fort of the Mexicans many Ages fince fcorn'd to derive 

 themfelves from a Hunting Anceftry , but affirm that they found the Chiclnmecen 

 m thole Countreys, who were great Venators. 



The accounting of Time by the Nights, extracted from the Hebrews, is ob* 



L rV J?, I™" Eaftem Pe °P le : * nd althou g h the G ™' ^Pt and wafh/d 

 their Children in cold Rivers, or Brooks, fo foon as, they were born, yet the 

 Mexicans never did it, but the Mother lays the Child on the fourth day after its 

 Birth, in an open place of the Houfe ; in the middle whereof ftands a Pot full 

 or Water cover'd with Broom, in which they warn the Infant. Neither arc 

 the Americans fo much addiaed to the Vice of Gaming as other Nations , 10 that 

 Grotius taxeth them too feverely as to that point : as on the contrary, he too 

 much dears them of Polygamy, whereas the Mexicans Marry as many Wives as 

 they pleafe, or are able to maintain. Father Martyn Perez, relates the fame of 

 the Cmaloans, and other Americans • as alfo Quarterns of the Natives in Nova Fran- 

 cia, which lie neareft to Norway. And what need the Americans have the Germans 

 their Teachers to make Dams and Banks againft Floods, fince Nature and 

 Neceffity it felf inftrudsit ? and where arc any People fo ignorant, as to 

 aienbe the fame event to Men and Beafts after death ? 'Tis true their man. 

 ner of eating in America is feveral, becaufe the People do not much converfe 

 together: but they did not go naked; for the Spaniards found them not onely 

 neatly Habited, but had a proper Name for every thing they wore. The 

 Jtetfuans us'd long Shirts , the Bondans Skins of wild Beafts , and towards the 

 North they cover'd themfelves from Head to Foot in hairy and undrefs'd 

 Hydes. The faenficing of Men was in former Ages fpreading far and near 



F over 



i? 



t)t Qrig. GminmAm^ 



Cuftohli of the Amtti* 



AMJ. 



their CSothinj, 



