53 
1671 ] of the Island Dauphine , &c. 
weave very neatly with grass & leaves of reeds & other 
leaves. This serves them for bed & sheets for sleeping, 
& tablecloths, napkins, & carpets. 
The Chiefs house themselves a little better; some of 
them have Houses of timber. 
Their furniture does not incommode them in their Huts, 
& their cooking utensils are of earth, stone, & wood. 
As to their Religion, they believe in one God, whom Religion. 
they call Zanharre , Master of all things. They hold some¬ 
thing of Judaism & Mahometanism : but it is impossible 
to speak accurately of their beliefs & superstitions, which 
are different in each Province of the Island. There are, 
nevertheless, some general ones which I shall remark on 
hereafter. 
The men have as many wives as they wish, if they have wives. 
the means of maintaining them, & buy them from their 
parents. Those who have most means have the most 
wives ; ’tis a mark of greatness among them to have many 
of them. Those who have many of them have always one 
whom they name the Mistress wife, who is more honour’d 
& respected than the others. They are very envious of 
one another’s wives, and often do what they can to 
debauch them. ’Tis this which causes great wars & dis¬ 
sensions between them. 
’Tis permissible for men to quit their wives when they 
wish, & for wives to quit their husbands, by giving back 
to them that with which they have been purchas’d ; they 
live together as long as they find themselves happy, if 
not, they quit themselves and take others. 
When the wives bear children, they tell their husbands 
if they have had an intrigue with any other men, then 
they name them, & how it came to pass. At length 
they tell all, believing that if they do not tell, they will die 
in travail of the child : & when she dies of it, some one of 
the other wives says that this one has lied to her husband, 
