When this long Tale is ended,
by him that spoke first; perhaps, a second begins another long Story;
so a third, and fourth, if there be so many Doctors present;
which all tell one and the same thing.
At last, the Corps is brought away
from that Hurdle to the Grave, by four young Men, attended by the Relations,
the King, old Men, and all the Nation. {Interment in the Grave.}
When they come to the Sepulcre, which is about six Foot deep,
and eight Foot long, having at each end (that is, at the Head and Foot)
a Light-Wood, or Pitch-Pine Fork driven close down the sides of the Grave,
firmly into the Ground; (these two Forks are to contain a Ridge-Pole,
as you shall understand presently) before they lay the Corps into the Grave,
they cover the bottom two or three times over with Bark of Trees,
then they let down the Corps (with two Belts, that the Indians
carry their Burdens withal) very leisurely, upon the said Barks;
then they lay over a Pole of the same Wood, in the two Forks, and having
a great many Pieces of Pitch-Pine Logs, about two Foot and a half long,
they stick them in the sides of the Grave down each End,
and near the Top thereof, where the other Ends lie on the Ridge-Pole,
so that they are declining like the Roof of a House. These being
very thick-plac'd, they cover them (many times double) with Bark;
then they throw the Earth thereon, that came out of the Grave,
and beat it down very firm; by this Means, the dead Body lies in a Vault,
nothing touching him; so that when I saw this way of Burial,
I was mightily pleas'd with it, esteeming it very decent and pretty,
as having seen a great many Christians buried without
the tenth Part of that Ceremony and Decency. {Quiogozon Idols.}
Now, when the Flesh is rotted and moulder'd from the Bone,
they take up the Carcass, and clean the Bones, and joint them together;
afterwards, they dress them up in pure white dress'd Deer-Skins,
and lay them amongst their Grandees and Kings in the Quiogozon,
which is their Royal Tomb or Burial-Place of their Kings and War-Captains.
This is a very large magnificent Cabin, (according to their Building)
which is rais'd at the Publick Charge of the Nation, and maintain'd
in a great deal of Form and Neatness. {Idols at the Beds.}
About seven foot high, is a Floor or Loft made, on which lie
all their Princes, and Great Men, that have died for several hundred Years,
all attir'd in the Dress I before told you of. No Person is to have
his Bones lie here, and to be thus dress'd, unless he gives
a round Sum of their Money to the Rulers, for Admittance.
If they remove never so far, to live in a Foreign Country,
they never fail to take all these dead Bones along with them,
though the Tediousness of their short daily Marches keeps them never so long
on their Journey. They reverence and adore this Quiogozon,
with all the Veneration and Respect that is possible for such a People
to discharge, and had rather lose all, than have any Violence or Injury
offer'd thereto. These Savages differ some small matter in their Burials;
some burying right upwards, and otherwise, as you are acquainted withal
in my Journal from South to North Carolina; {Mourning for the Dead.}
Yet they all agree in their Mourning, which is, to appear every Night,
at the Sepulcre, and howl and weep in a very dismal manner, having their Faces
dawb'd over with Light-wood Soot, (which is the same as Lamp-black)
and Bears Oil. This renders them as black as it is possible
to make themselves, so that theirs very much resemble
the Faces of Executed Men boil'd in Tar. {Indians hired to mourn.}
If the dead Person was a Grandee, to carry on the Funeral Ceremonies,
they hire People to cry and lament over the dead Man. Of this sort
there are several, that practise it for a Livelihood, and are very expert
at Shedding abundance of Tears, and howling like Wolves,
and so discharging their Office with abundance of Hypocrisy and Art.
The Women are never accompanied with these Ceremonies after Death;
and to what World they allot that Sex, I never understood,
unless, to wait on their dead Husbands; but they have more Wit,
than some of the Eastern Nations, who sacrifice themselves to accompany
their Husbands into the next World. It is the dead Man's Relations, by Blood,
as his Uncles, Brothers, Sisters, Cousins, Sons, and Daughters,
that mourn in good earnest, the Wives thinking their Duty is discharg'd,
and that they are become free, when their Husband is dead;
so, as fast as they can, look out for another, to supply his Place.
{Indian Women handsome.}
As for the Indian Women, which now happen in my Way; when young,
and at Maturity, they are as fine-shap'd Creatures (take them generally)
as any in the Universe. They are of a tawny Complexion;
their Eyes very brisk and amorous; their Smiles afford the finest Composure
a Face can possess; their Hands are of the finest Make,
with small long Fingers, and as soft as their Cheeks; and their whole Bodies
of a smooth Nature. They are not so uncouth or unlikely, as we suppose them;
nor are they Strangers or not Proficients in the soft Passion.
They are most of them mercenary, except the married Women, who sometimes
bestow their Favours also to some or other, in their Husbands Absence.
For which they never ask any Reward. {Married Women unconstant.}
As for the Report, that they are never found unconstant, like the Europeans,
it is wholly false; for were the old World and the new one put into
a Pair of Scales (in point of Constancy) it would be a hard Matter to discern
which was the heavier.
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