i 5 3 



Of their Lan- 

 guage. 





Of their 

 Deaths, Bu- 

 rials and 

 Mourning. 



AMERICA. Chap. II. 



'Tjieir Language, is oncly peculiar co themfelves, not inclining to any of the 

 more refined Tongues. Some have thought they might be of the difperfed Je*s t 

 becaufefome of their words are near unto the Hebrew . but by the fame rule they 

 may conclude them tobefome of the gleanings of all Nations, becaufe they have 

 words which found after the Greek, Latine, French, and other Tongues. Their Lan- 

 guage is hard to learn, few of the English being able to fpeak any of it, or capable 

 of the right pronunciation, which is the chief grace of their Tongue : They pro- 

 nounce much after the Diphthongs, excluding L and ^ which in our English 

 Tongue they pronounce with as much difficulty, as moft of the Dutch do Tand H, 

 calling a Lobfter a T^objlamu Every Countrey doth fomething differ in their Speech, 

 even as our Northern People do from the Southern, and Weftern from them ; efpe- 

 daily the Tamntine, whofe Tongue runs fo much upon ^ that they wharle much 

 in pronunciation. When any Ships come near the Shore, they demand whether 

 they are King Charles's Torries, with fuch a rumbling found, as if one were beating on 

 an unbrae'd Drum. In ferious Difcourfe our Southern Indians ufe feldom any fhort 

 Colloquies, but fpe*k their minds at large, without any interjefted Difcourfes 

 from any, the reft giving diligent audience to his utterance . which done, fome or 

 other returns him as long an Anfwec : They love not to fpeak multa, fed multum-, 

 feldom are their words and their deeds ftrangers. According to the matter of their 

 difcourfe, fo are their a&ing Gefturcs in their Expreffions. 



The Indians are of lufty and healthful Bodies, not experimentally knowing thofc 

 Difeafes which are incident to other Countreys, as Feavers, Pleurifies, Calentures, 

 Agues, Confumptions, Convulfions, Apoplexies, Dropfies, Gouts, Pox, Meaflcs, 

 or the like, but fpin out the thred of their Days to a fair length, numbering fixty, 

 eighty, fome a hundred years : But when any one lies a dying, the doleful cries, 

 And throbbing fighs of the Friends and Relations, exprefs unfpeakable forrow . 

 and when the Party is dead and laid in the Ground, they not onely weep and howl 

 for a good fpace over the Grave, but alfo keep Annual Solemnities of Mourning, 

 rubbingtheir Faces with black Lead all about the Eyebrows, and part of their 

 Cheeks . yet do they hold the Immortality of the Soul, in which their Indian Faith 

 jumps much with the Turkish Alchoran, dreaming of a certain Paradife, or South- 

 Weft Eljfium, wherein they fliall everlaftingly abide, folacing themfelves in odori- 

 ferous Gardens,fruitful Corn-fields, green Meadows, bathing their tawny Hides in 

 # the cool Streams of pleafant Rivers, and meltering themfelves from Heat and Cold 

 *in the fumptuous Palaces fram'd by Nature, concluding, that neither care nor pain 

 fhall moleft them, but that Natures bounty will adminifter all things with a vo- 

 luntary contribution from the Store*houfe of their Elyfium 5 at the Portal whereof, 

 they fay, lies a great Dog, whofe churlifli fnarlings deny admiffion to unworthy 

 Intruders : wherefore it is their cuftom to bury with them their Bowes and Arrows, 

 and good (lore of their Wampompeage and Mo^hacks, the one to affright that affront- 

 ing Cerberus, the other to purchafe more immenfe Prerogatives in their Paradife. 

 For their Enemies and loofe Livers, whom they account unworthy of this imagi- 

 nary Happinefs, they fay that they pafs to the infernal Dwellings of Jbamocho, to 

 be tortur'd according to the Fictions of the ancient Heathen. 



The drudgery of all laborious forts of Work, and the management of all dome- 

 ftick Affairs, lies wholly upon the Indian Women, who are made meer Slaves by 

 bythelr Hus- i eir Husbands - they build the Houfes, fowe and reap the Corn, provide Lobfter* 

 dliW N thc" for their Husbands to bait their Hooks when they go a Filhing ror IBaJJe or Cod ; 

 and for thefe Lobfters they arc many times fore'd to dive in the extreameft Wea- 

 ther, then lug home a great weight of them upon their Backs, as alfo all the Fith 



which 



Difpofitioris, 

 Employ- 

 ments, llfage 



Wome;i. 



