All This While,
The King And Old Men Sit Round The Image, And Seemingly Pay
A Profound Respect To The Same.
One great Help to these Indians,
in carrying on these Cheats, and inducing Youth to do what they please,
is, the uninterrupted Silence, which is ever kept and observ'd,
with all the Respect and Veneration imaginable.
{Masquerade.}
At these Feasts, which are set out with all the Magnificence
their Fare allows of, the Masquerades begin at Night, and not before.
There is commonly a Fire made in the middle of the House, which is the largest
in the Town, and is very often the Dwelling of their King, or War-Captain;
where sit two Men on the Ground, upon a Mat; one with a Rattle,
made of a Gourd, with some Beans in it; the other with a Drum,
made of an earthen Pot, cover'd with a dress'd-Deer-Skin,
and one Stick in his Hand to beat thereon; and so they both begin
the Song appointed. {Indian Musicians.} At the same time, one drums,
and the other rattles, which is all the artificial Musick of their own making
I ever saw amongst them. To these two Instruments they sing,
which carries no Air with it, but is a sort of unsavoury Jargon;
yet their Cadences and Raising of their Voices are form'd
with that Equality and Exactness, that (to us Europeans) it seems admirable,
how they should continue these Songs, without once missing to agree,
each with the others Note and Tune.
{Dancing.}
As for their Dancing, were there Masters of that Profession amongst them,
as there are with us, they would dearly earn their Money;
for these Creatures take the most Pains at it, that Men are able to endure.
I have seen thirty odd together a dancing, and every one
dropp'd down with Sweat, as if Water had been poured down their Backs.
They use those hard Labours, to make them able to endure Fatigue,
{Indians long winded.} and improve their Wind, which indeed
is very long and durable, it being a hard matter, in any Exercise,
to dispossess them of it.
At these Feasts, they meet from all the Towns within fifty or sixty
Miles round, where they buy and sell several Commodities, as we do
at Fairs and Markets. {Indian Gaming.} Besides, they game very much,
and often strip one another of all they have in the World; and what is more,
I have known several of them play themselves away, so that they have
remain'd the Winners Servants, till their Relations or themselves
could pay the Money to redeem them; and when this happens,
the Loser is never dejected or melancholy at the Loss, but laughs,
and seems no less contented than if he had won. They never differ at Gaming,
neither did I ever see a Dispute, about the Legality thereof,
so much as rise amongst them.
{Indian Cards.}
Their chiefest Game is a sort of Arithmetick, which is managed
by a Parcel of small split Reeds, the Thickness of a small Bent;
these are made very nicely, so that they part, and are tractable
in their Hands.
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