2*74 Hîjîorîcal Journal of 



medies more fit, according to our Nodoils, to kill a Mail tliâ! 

 was well, than to cure a fick Perfon. In fome Places they 

 ufe no Means at all : They are fatisfied with having Recourfe 

 to the Spirits ; and if thefick Perfon recovers his Health, they 

 have all the Honour : But the dying Perfon is always the leall 

 concerned about his Fate. 



It may further be added, that if thefe People fhew fo little 

 rr^j , judgment in their Manner of treating the 



to the Dead Sick, we mult acknowledge that they behave 



towards the Dead with a Generofity and an 

 AfFeélion that cannot be too much admired. Some Mothers have 

 been known to have kept the dead Bodies of their Children whole 

 Years, and could never go from them * otherô draw Milk from 

 their Breafts, and pour it upon the Tombs of thefe little Crea« 

 tures. If a Village happens to take Fii'e, in which there arè 

 àny dead Bodies, this is the firft Thing they take Care to pre- 

 ferve : They ftrip themfelves of every Thing that is moll valu- 

 able, to adorn the Dead : From Time to Time they open their 

 Coffins to change their Drefs ; and they deprive themfelves 

 of Food to carry it to the Sepulchres, and to the Places where 

 they fancy their Souls walk. In a Word, they are at much 

 greater Expences for the Dead, than for the Living. 



As foon as the fick Perfon expires, the Place is filled v/ith 

 . . mournful Cries ; and this lafts as long as the 



rals ^'''''^ ^^^^^y ^^^^ ^^^^^y ^^'^ Expence, fôr 



they muil keep open Table all this Time. 

 The dead Body, dreffed in the fineft Robe, with Vhe Face painted, 

 the Arms and all that belonged to the Deceafed by his Side, rs 

 expofed at the Door of the Cabin in the Poftùre it is to be laid 

 in the Tomb ; and this PoUure is the fame, in many Places, a^ 

 that of the Child in the Mother's Womb. The Cuftom of fome 

 Nations is for the Relations of the Deceafed to fall to the End of 

 the Funeral ; and all this Interval is paiTed in Tears and Cries, 

 in treating their Vifi tors, in praifing the Dead, and in mutual 

 Compliments. In other Places they hire Women to weep, who 

 perform their Duty pundlually : They fing, they dance, they 

 weep without ceafing, always keeping Time : But thefe De- 

 monftrations of a borrowed Sorrow do not prevent what Nature 

 requires from the Relations of the Deceafed. 



It appears to me, that they carry the Body without Ce!remony 

 nr il. <r 1 ^^^^ Place of Interment ; at leaft I find no 



u/ the lombs. Mentiez aboutît in any Relation : But when 

 it is in the Grave, they take Care to cover it in fuch a Manner, 

 that the Earth does not touch it : It lies as in a little Cave lined 

 with Skin, nluch richer and better adorned than their Ca^- 

 bins. Then they fet up a PoU on the Gi-ave, and fix on it every 



I Thino- 



