"travels in North America. - lo 



not only becaufe he puts an End to the Sufferings of his Father, 

 but alfo becaufe he is perfuaded he hallens his Happinefs ; for 

 thefe Savages imagine that a Man who dies in old Age, is born 

 again in the other World at the Age of a fucking Child ; and 

 that on the contrary, thofe who die young, are old when they 

 come into the Country of Souls. The Daughters of thefe Peo. 

 pie never marry, but with the Confent of their Parents, and the 

 Son-in-Law is obliged to live with his Father-in-Law, and be 

 fubjedlto him in every Thing, till he has Children. The Sons 

 leave their Father's Houfe early. Thefe Savages burn their 

 Dead, and wrap up their Aihes in the Bark of a Tree, which 

 they bury in the Earth : Then they raife over the Grave a Kind 

 of Monument with Poles, to which they fallen Tobacco, that the 

 Deceafed may have wherewith to fmoke in the other World. IF 

 he was a Hunter, they hang up alfo his Bow and Arrows. Tho' 

 the Mothers' weep for théir Children twenty Days, the Fathers 

 receive Prefents, and in Return make a Feail, War is much 

 lefs honourable amongfl them than the Chace ; but to be 

 efteemed a good Hunter, they muft fail three Days together 

 without taking the leaft Nourifhment, having their Facei? 

 fmeared with Black all this Tim.e. When the Fail: is over, the 

 Candidate facrilices to the Great Spirit a Piece of each of the 

 Beafts he hath been wont to hunt ; this is commonly the Tongue 

 and the Muzzle, which at other Times is the Hunter's Share : 

 His Family or Relations don't touch it ; and they v/ould eveu 

 fooner die with Plunger than eat any of it, it being appropri- 

 ated to the Hunter to feail his Friends and Strangers with. As 

 to the reft, they fay that thefe Savages are perfectly difmterefted^ 

 and are of moft inviolable Fidelity ; that they cannot bear a 

 Lye, and look upon all Deceit with Horror. 



This is. Madam, all that I could learn of thefe Northern Peo- 

 ple, with whom we never had a fettled Intercourfe, and whom 



we never faw but en pajjant. Let us come to thofe we are 



' better acquainted with. —One may divide them into three Claffes^ 

 diflinguifhed by their Language, and their particular Genius. 

 In that Extent of Country which is commonly called AVxt?^ 

 ^he "Extent cf v/hich has no Bounds to the North, 



New France ^^^^ ^^^^ Hud/on s Bay, which was 



difmembered from it by the Treaty of Utrecht^ 

 w^hich has no other on the Eall but the Sea, the EngUJh Colonies 

 on the South, Louifiana to the South-Eaft, and the Spanijh Ter- 

 ritories to the Welt : In this Extent of Country, there are but 

 three Mother Tongues, from which all the others are derived : 

 Thefe are the Sioux, the Algonquin, and the Huron. We know- 

 but little of the People that fpeak the firft of thefe Languages, 

 and no Body knows how far it extends. Vv^e have hitherto had 



