Cap.XXLV. TVCaribby-lflands. W 



deceafed 3 or if they bury him elfewhere, they always make a< 

 covering over the place where the body is to be laid, and after 

 they have let it down into the grave, and wrap'd it in an Amac , 

 they make a great fire about it, and all the more ancient both 

 men and women kneel down •* The men place themfelves be- 

 hind the women,and ever and anon they ftroke them with their 

 hands over their arms, to incite them to lament and weep 

 Then finging and .weeping they all fay with a pitiful and la- 

 menting voice : "Alas, why didft thou dye ? Thou hadft fb 

 " much good Manioc, good Potatoes, good Bananas, good Atta- 

 ints : Thou wert belov'd in thy Family, and they had fo 

 <c great care of thy perfon : Why therefore wouldft thou dye ? 

 c \ Why wouldft thou dy e } If the party were a man, they add, 

 " Thou wert fo valiant and fo generous 5 thou haft overthrown 

 f fb many Enemies =, thou haft behav'd thy felf gallantly in fo 

 " many fights:, thou haft made us eat fo many Arouagues^ 

 " Alas ! who (hall now defend us againft the Arouagms ? Why 

 " therefore wouldft thou dye ? And they repeat thefe expo- 

 ftujations feveral times over. 



" The Topinambous make in a manner the fame lamentations 



over the graves of their dead : " He is dead they, that brave DcLeryyr.j, 



" Huntfman § that excellent Fifherman 5 that valiant Warriour 5 



" that gallant eater of Prifoners j that great Deftroyer of Por- 



" tHgaez, and Margajats that generous Defender of our Coun- 



c frU8i he is departed this world : And they often repeat the 



fame expreffions : The Inhabitants of Guinny do alfo ask their P utc ^ Rela " 



deceafed what obliged them to dye, and they rub their Faces tms > 



with a wifp of ftraw, to try if that will awake them: And 



Bnsbequius, in the Relation of hisEmbaflies into turkey relates, 



that pafling through a Town of Servia, named Tagodena, he 



heard the women and young maids lamenting over a deceafed 



perfon, and faying to him in their Funeral fongs,as if he had idO 



been able to hear them .* "What have we deferved, and where- 



" in have we been deficient in doing thee fervice, and com- 



" forting thee } What caufe of difcontent have we ever given 



" thee that ftiould oblige thee to leave us > Which fomewhat 



relates to the complaints of our Caribbians. 



The howlings and expoftulations of the Topinambous and the 

 Virginians upon the like occafions laft ordinarily a month : The 

 people of Mgypt continu'd their lamentations feventy dayes : 

 And fome Floridians employ old women to bewail the decea-t 

 fed for. the fpace of fix months .• But Lycurgus limited mourn- Pk« hif 

 ing for the dead to eleven days; and that is much about the 

 time that our Caribbians took to do the fame office, before they - 

 put the dead body into the ground : For during the fpace of 

 ten dayes or thereabouts, twice every day the Relations, and 

 the moft intimate friends came to vifit the deceafed party at 

 his grave, and they always brought him fomewhat to eat and 



drinks 



