Here Some Are Burned To Ashes, And
Some Only Scorched In The Fire And Thrown Into The River, Where The Dogs
And Foxes Come Presently And Eat Them.
Here the wives are burned along
with the bodies of their deceased husbands, and if they will not, their
heads are shaven and they are not afterwards esteemed.
The people go all naked, except a small cloth about their middles. The
women have their necks, arms, and ears decorated with rings of silver,
copper, and tin, and with round hoops of ivory, adorned with amber
stones and many agates, and have their foreheads marked with a great red
spot, whence a stroke of red goes up the crown, and one to each side. In
their winter, which is in May, the men wear quilted gowns of cotton,
like to our counterpanes, and quilted caps like our grocers large
mortars, with a slit to look out at, tied beneath their ears. When a man
or woman is sick and like to die, they are laid all night before the
idols, either to help their sickness or make an end of them. If they do
not mend that night, the friends come and sit up with them, and cry for
some time, after which they take them to the side of the river, laying
them on a raft of reeds, and so let them float down the river.
When they are married the man and woman come to the water side, where
there is an old bramin or priest, a cow and calf, or a cow with calf.
Then the man and woman, together with the cow and calf, go into the
river, giving the old bramin a piece of cloth four yards long, and a
basket cross bound, in which are sundry things. The bramin lays the
cloth on the back of the cow, after which he takes hold of the end of
the cows tail, and says certain words. The woman has a brass or copper
pot full of water; the man takes hold of the bramin with one hand, and
the woman with the other, all having hold of the cow by the tail, on
which they pour water from the pot, so that it runs on all their hands.
They then lave up water with their hands, and the bramin ties the man
and woman together by their clothes[408]. When this is done, they go
round about the cow and calf, and then give some alms to the poor, who
are always present, and to the bramin or priest they give the cow and
calf, after which they go to several of the idols, where they offer
money, lying down flat on the ground before the idol, and kissing the
earth several times, after which they go away. Their chief idols are
black and very ugly, with monstrous mouths, having their ears gilded and
full of jewels, their teeth and eyes of gold, silver, or glass, and
carrying sundry things in their hands.
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