^50 TheHifiory of Book Hi 



drink, faying to him every time : " Alas ! why wouldft thou 

 <c dye? why wilt thou not return to life again ? fay not at 

 ci leaft that we refufed thee wherewithall to live upon } for we 

 c£ have brought thee fomewhat to eat and drink : And after 

 they have made this pleafant exhortation to him, as if he mould 

 have heard them,they left the meat and drink they had brought 

 with them at the brink of the grave till the next vmt,at which 

 time they put it on his head,lince he thought it much to ftretch 

 forth his hand to take it. 

 Acofta, Dc The Peruvians^ the Brajiltans, the Canadians, the Inhabitants 

 Lcry.P. Ju- G f Madagascar, the Canarians, the Tartars, the Chinefes, do al- 

 nius, Fran. f Q b r j n g certain dimes of meat to the graves of their neereft 

 Nicholas in Relations. And not to go to Countries at fo great a diftance,is 

 Bergeron, there not fomething of this kind done among us ? for during 

 Carpin,^ certain dayes they ferve the Effigies of our Kings and Princes 

 Trigaut. newly dead, and they are prefented with meat and drink 4 as 

 if they were living, nay fo far as to tafte the meats and drinks 

 before them. 



The Caribbians of fome Iflandsdo ftill fet meat at the graves 

 of the deceafed, but they leave them not fo long as they did 

 heretofore, ere they covered them with earth : For after the 

 Funeral lamentation is ended, and that the women have wept 

 as much as they can, fome friend of the deceafed laies a plank 

 over his head, and the reft put the earth together with their 

 hands till they have filled the grave} that done, they burn 

 all that belonged to the deceafed. 



They alfo fometimes kill Slaves to attend the Ghofts of the 

 deceafed, and to wait on them in the other world : But thefe 

 poor wretches get out of the way when their Mafters dye, in- 

 to fome other Ifland. We may juftly conceive a horrour at the 

 AcoftaVH;/?. relation of thefe inhumane and barbarous Funerals, which are 

 of China, Dc drerich'd with the blood of Slaves, and divers other perfons, 

 Laet,Garcil. and among others women, who have their throats cut, are 

 Hrard,Lin- burnt and buried alive, to go and accompany their Husbands 

 fcot, e>c. j ntQ t j 3e ot h er wor id 5 whereof frequent examples may be found 

 in divers Nations : But our Caribbians think it enough upon 

 thefe occafions to put to death only the Slaves of the deceafed, 

 if they can catch them. 



It was forbidden the Lacedemonians to bury any thing with 

 the deceafed perfcn $ but the contrary hath been and is ftill 

 17 . .1 j . pradtifed in divers Nations : For not to mention the many pre- 

 an lacit^ e * QUS ^irigs which were coniumed with the Bodies that were 

 ' * burnt among the ancient Romans, Macedonians, Germans and 

 Lib.j.c. 12. other people, we read in the Hiftory of Jofephas, that King 

 Carpin. Solomon put up great wealth with the body of David his Fa- 

 De Z,ery, t h er . Thus the Tartars put into the grave with the dead per- 



thns Dc hi fon ail his Gold and Silver : And the Bra fi liam > Virginians, Ca- 

 et &lumu~ na ^* ans and ^ evera ^ ol her Savages inter with the bodies, the 

 3 'cloths and whatever elfe belonged to the deceafed. The 



