( 3*7 ) 



who, when the ceremony is over, drown 

 their forrow in a drunken feaft, in which 

 their Piworree is freely difpenfed; this, 

 with another drink, which is but little 

 different, and is called Beltera, being 

 the only fermented liquors known to 

 thefe Indians before the Europeans trans- 

 planted themfelves hither. Thefe occa- 

 lions prefent a ludicrous fpedtacle of cry- 

 ing, finging, riot, and drunkennefs ; 

 the old women are particularly noify and 

 petulent, and diftinguirh themfelves by 

 finging loud fongs in praifc of the perfoa 

 deceafed ; and the whole is a con fu fed 

 fcene of mirth and forrow, ridiculoufly 

 combined in the fame object. After 

 the body has lain in the earth for feve- 

 ral months, and the flefh is fuppofed to 

 be perfectly rotten, the grave is open- 

 ed, and the bones taken out and diftri- 

 buted among the relations, on which 

 occafion the fame ludicrous fcene of riot 

 and forrow is again re-aded. 



Though 



