Part 19

They never bear out the corpses of the dead through the door of the lodge, but through that part toward which the sick person turned when he expired. They think that the soul flies out through the smoke-hole; and, in order that it may not linger through longing for its old home, nor while departing breathe upon any of the children, who by such an act would be, as they think, doomed to death, they beat the walls of the wigwam with frequent blows of a club, in order that they may compel the soul to depart more quickly. They believe it to be immortal. That it may not thereafter perish with hunger, they bury with the body a large quantity of provisions; also, garments, pots, and various utensils of great expense, and acquired by many years' labor, in order, they say, that he may use them and pass his time more suitably in the kingdom of the dead. The tombs of the chiefs are raised a little from the ground; upon them they place poles joined in the form of a pyramid; they add a bow, arrows, shield and other insignia of war; but upon the tombs of the women they place necklaces and collars. They bury the bodies of infants beside paths, in order that their souls, which they think do not depart very far from the body, may slip into the bosoms of women passing by, and animate the yet undeveloped fetus. In mourning, they stain the face with soot. When informed of a death, the relatives, neighbors, and friends assemble at the lodge where the corpse lies. If the condition of the dead permit, one of them makes a speech, in which he employs all those arguments that the most eloquent speakers are wont to use for the solace of grief. He rehearses the praises of the dead; he reminds them that the latter was born a man, and therefore liable to death; that those misfortunes which cannot be repaired are made lighter by patience; he sets forth other things of that sort to the same effect. On the third day the funeral is held. A funeral feast is provided for the whole village, each individual liberally furnishing his share. For this feast they advance three main reasons: first, that they may assuage the general grief; secondly, that those friends who come from a distance to the funeral may be more fittingly entertained; thirdly, that they may please the spirit of the dead, which, they believe, is delighted by this exhibition of liberality, and also partakes of the repast placed for him. When the feast is completed the master of the funeral, who, in each distinguished family, permanently holds this office and is greatly honored, proclaims that the time for the burial has come. All give utterance to continuous lamentations and wailings. The corpse, wrapped in beaver skins, and placed upon a bier made of bark and rushes, with his limbs bent and pressed tightly against his body in order that, as they say, he may be committed to the earth in the same position in which he once lay in his mother's womb, is borne out on the shoulders of the relatives. The bier is set down at the appointed place, the gifts which each one offers to the dead are fastened to poles, and the donors are named by the master of the funeral. The mourning is renewed; finally, boys vie with each other in a mock contest.

Those who have been drowned are buried with greater ceremony and lamentation. For their bodies are cut open, and a portion of the flesh, together with the viscera, thrown into the fire. This is a sort of sacrifice, by means of which they seek to appease heaven. For they are sure that heaven is enraged against the race whenever any one loses his life by drowning. If any part of these funeral rites has not been duly and regularly performed, they believe that all the calamities from which they afterwards may suffer are a punishment for this neglect. They indulge their grief throughout an entire year. For the first ten days they lie upon the ground day and night, flat upon their bellies; it is impious then to utter any sound unless significant of grief, or to approach the fire, or to take part in feasts. During the remainder of the year the mourning continues, but less vigorously. All the duties of politeness, conversation with neighbors, and association with friends, are neglected; and, if a man has lost a wife he remains unmarried until the year has expired. Every eight or ten years the Hurons, which nation is widely extended, convey all their corpses from all the villages to a designated place and cast them into an immense pit. They call it the day of the Dead. When this has been decreed by resolution of the elders, they drag out the corpses from their graves, some already decomposed, with flesh scarcely clinging to the bones, others thinly covered with putrid flesh, others teeming with vile worms and smelling fearfully. The loose bones they place in sacks, the bodies not yet disintegrated they place in coffins, and bear them, in the manner of suppliants, to the appointed place, proceeding amid deep silence and with regular step, uttering sighs and mournful cries. But, in order that the memory of chiefs and of those especially famous in the art of war, who lack offspring, may not fail, they choose some person in the flower of his age and strength, to whom they give the name of the dead man. The namesake immediately makes a levy of warriors and starts for battle, in order that by the achievement of some glorious deed he may prove himself the heir not only of the name but also of the valor of him whose place he has taken. Names of lesser note are condemned to everlasting silence. Therefore, as soon as any one in the village has departed this life his name is proclaimed in a loud voice throughout all the lodges, in order that no one may rashly use it. But if, nevertheless, it be necessary to name the dead man, they use a circumlocution and preface something by which the unpleasant [346] recollection of his death may be softened. If that be omitted they consider it a deadly insult: nor do they think that son or parent can be wounded by more savage abuse than when their dead relatives are defamed before them.

BELLI GERENDI RATIO; ARMA; CRUDELITAS IN CAPTIVOS.

BELLA temere ac ferociter suscipiunt, nulla sæpe, aut perlevi de causa. Duces communi suffragio legunt, eosque vel familiarum præcipuarum natu maximos, vel quorum virtus bellica, aut etiam eloquentia perspecta sit. Civili bello nunquam inter se concurrunt; arma in finitimos tantum movent; neque imperii ac ditionis proferendæ causa, sed ferè ut illatam sibi, vel foederatis, injuriam ulciscantur. Gladios, & gravidas nitrato pulvere fistulas, à Batavis & Anglis accepere, quibus armis freti, certiùs & audacius in hostium, atque adeò Europæorum perniciem conspirant. Interdum bella singulari certamine finiunt. Agmina duo, hinc Montanorum, quos vocant, inde Iroquæorum constiterant ante aliquot annos, velut in procinctu. Duces antegressi jam designabant locum ad aciem explicandam, cum unus alterum sic allocutus fertur: Parcamus nostrorum sanguini, imo nostro: manibus nudis rem agamus. Uter alterum dejecerit, is vincat. Placuit conditio. Manus ambo conferunt. Montanus Iroquæum ita delassavit, dolum artemque virtuti miscens, ut humi denique prostratum ligaverit, impositumque humeris ad suum agmen victor detulerit. Clypeos conficiunt è ligno dolato, plerumque cedrino; paulum ad oras incurvos: leves, prælongos & peramplos, ita ut totum corpus protegant. Jam, ne jaculis, aut securibus perrumpantur omnino ac dissiliant, eos intus consuunt restibus ex animalium corio contextis, quæ totam clypei molem continent connectuntque. Non gestant è brachio suspensos, sed funem ex quo pendent, rejiciunt in humerum dextrum: adeo ut latus corporis sinistrum clypeo protegatur; mox ubi jaculum emiserunt, aut ferream disploserunt fistulam, paulum retrahunt dextrum latus, ac sinistrum clypeo tectum obvertunt hosti.

In prælio id maximè student, vivos ut hostes capiant. Captis & in suos abductis pagos primum vestes detrahunt; deinde ungues crudis dentibus singillatim avellunt: tum palo alligatos verberant ad satietatem. Mox vinculis solutos cogunt ire, ac redire, geminum inter ordinem armatorum spinis, fustibus & ferramentis. Denique, accenso circum foco, lentis ignibus miseros torrent. Interim torosas carnes fodicant candentibus laminis, & verubus, aut recisas ac semiustulatas, sanie fluentes & sanguine, vorant. Nunc tædis ardentibus totum corpus, ac præsertim hiatus vulnerum, pertentant: nunc detracta capitis cute inspergunt nudæ calvæ favillam, & fervidos cineres: nunc brachiorum nervos ac pedum vellunt, lancinant, aut hebeti secant lente ferro, derepta parumper cute, in pedis malleolo, & manus carpo. Sæpe cogunt captivum infelicem ingredi per subjectos ignes: aut frusta suæ carnis mandere, ac vivo sepulcro condere. Hujusmodi carnificinam non pauci è Patribus Societatis pertulere. Hanc porro extrahunt in multos dies; utque novis cruciatibus tristis victima suppetat, intermittunt eosdem aliquandiu, donec ad extremum fatiscant corpora, & concidant. Tunc è pectore cor avellunt, torrent subjectis prunis; & cruore condîtum juvenibus avidè comedendum objiciunt, si captivus suppliciorum acerbitatem generosè fuerit perpessus: ut viri fortis, inquiunt, masculum robur juventus bellatrix combibat. Laudatur qui rogum, cultros, vulnera, irretorto vultu aspexerit, & exceperit: qui non ingemuerit, qui risu cantuque tortoribus illuserit: nam canere tot inter mortes, amplum ac magnificum esse putant. Itaque cantilenas ipsi multo ante componunt, quas capti, si sors ferat, recitent. Reliqua multitudo cadaver absumit in ferali convivio. Dux reservat sibi verticis pellem cum coma, monumentum victoriæ, trophæum crudelitatis.

METHODS OF WARFARE; WEAPONS; CRUELTY TO PRISONERS.

THEY engage in war rashly and savagely, often with no cause, or upon a very slight pretext. They choose as leaders, by general vote, either the eldest members of illustrious families or those whose warlike valor, or even eloquence, has been approved. In civil war they never engage; they carry arms only against their neighbors, and not for the sake of extending their dominion and sway, but usually, in order that they may avenge an injury inflicted upon themselves or their allies. They have obtained swords and guns from the Dutch and English, and, relying upon these weapons, they plan with greater determination and boldness the destruction of their enemies, and even of the Europeans. Sometimes they decide their wars by single combat. Two bands, one of the so-called Montagnais,[70] the other of Iroquois, had met a few years ago in readiness for battle. The leaders had advanced and were already designating the positions for the formation of the lines of attack, when it is said that one thus addressed the other: "Let us spare the blood of our followers; nay, rather let us spare our own. Let us settle the matter with our bare hands, and he who overcomes the other shall be the victor." The proposition was accepted, and the two joined battle. The Montagnais, by means of a combination of strategy and skill with courage, so wearied the Iroquois that he finally hurled the latter to the ground, bound him, and triumphantly carried him off upon his shoulders to his own band. They make their shields of hewn wood, principally cedar, with slightly-curving edges, light, very long and very large, so that they cover the entire body. Next, in order that they may not be penetrated and split by spears or tomahawks, they overlace them on the inner side with thongs made from the skins of animals, which hold together and connect the whole mass of the shield. They do not carry the shield suspended from the arm, but cast by a cord over the right shoulder, so that it protects the left side of the body; when they have cast their spears or fired their guns they slightly retire the right side and turn toward the enemy the left side, which is protected by the shield.

In battle they strive especially to capture their enemies alive. Those who have been captured and led off to their villages are first stripped of their clothing; then they savagely tear off their nails one by one with their teeth; then they bind them to stakes and beat them as long as they please. Next they release them from their bonds, and compel them to pass back and forth between a double row of men armed with thorns, clubs and instruments of iron. Finally, they kindle a fire about them, and roast the miserable creatures with slow heat. Sometimes they pierce the flesh of the muscles with red-hot plates and with spits, or cut it off and devour it, half-burned and dripping with gore and blood. Next, they plant blazing torches all over the body, and especially in the gaping wounds; then, after scalping him they scatter ashes and live coals upon his naked head; then they tear the tendons of the arms and legs, lacerate them, or, after removing a little of the skin, leisurely cut them with a knife at the ankle and wrist. Often they compel the unhappy prisoner to walk through fire, or to eat, and thus entomb in a living sepulchre, pieces of his own flesh. Torture of this sort has been borne by not a few of the Fathers of the Society. Moreover, they prolong this torment throughout many days, and, in order that the poor victim may undergo fresh trials, intermit it for some time, until his vitality is entirely exhausted and he perishes. Then they tear the heart from the breast, roast it upon the coals, and, if the prisoner has bravely borne the bitterness of the torture, give it, seasoned with blood, to the boys, to be greedily eaten, in order, as they say, that the warlike youth may imbibe the heroic strength of the valiant man. The prisoner who has beheld and endured stake, knives and wounds with an unchanging countenance, who has not groaned, who with laughter and song has ridiculed his tormentors, is praised; for they think that to sing amid so many deaths is great and noble. So they themselves compose songs long beforehand, in order that they may repeat them if they should by chance be captured. The rest of the crowd consume the corpse in a brutal feast. The chief reserves for himself the scalp as a sign of victory, a trophy of cruelty.

INDOLES ANIMI: CORPORIS CULTUS: CIBI, CONVIVIA; SUPELLEX: RELIGIO, & SUPERSTITIONES.

SIC hostes accipiunt: at domi colunt pacem, rixasque diligenter cavent, nisi quas ebrietatis impotentia excitavit. Fortunati, si nunquam illis hanc pestem Europa importasset! Irasci ne norunt quidem, ac vehementer initio mirabantur, cum inveherentur Patres in vitia pro concione, eosque furere existimabant, qui pacatos inter auditores, & amicos, tanta contentione se jactarent. Liberalitatis & munificentiæ famam aucupantur: sua largiuntur ultro; ablata vix repetunt: nec fures aliter, quam risu & sannis ulciscuntur. Si quem, oborta simultate nefarie aliquid moliri suspicantur, non minis deterrent hominem, sed donis. Ex eodem concordiæ studio fit ut assentiantur ultro, quidquid doceas; nihilo tamen secius tenent mordicus insitam opinionem aut superstitionem: eoque difficilius erudiuntur. Quid enim agas cum annuentibus verbo & concedentibus omnia; re nihil præstantibus? Miserorum egestatem benignè sublevant; viduarum ac senum sustentant orbitatem, nisi cum senio ætas vieta marcet, vel morbus gravior incidit: tunc enim abrumpere infelicem vitam satius arbitrantur, quàm alere ac producere. Quæcumque calamitas ingruat, nunquam se dimoveri de animi tranquillitate patiuntur, qua felicitatem potissimum definiunt. Inediam multorum dierum, morbos, & ærumnas lenissime & constantissimè perferunt. Ipsos partus dolores, licet acerbissimos, ita dissimulant feminæ vel superant, ut ne ingemiscant quidem: ac si cui lacryma vel gemitus excideret, æterna flagraret ignominia, neque virum, à quo duceretur, præterea inveniret, Nihil unquam amicus cum amico, uxor cum viro, cum uxore vir, queritur & expostulat. Liberos mira caritate complectuntur: sed modum non tenent; in eos enim neque animadvertunt ipsi, neque ab aliis animadverti sinunt. Hinc petulantia puerorum & ferocitas, quæ, postquàm se corroboravit ætate, in omne scelus erumpit. Quam autem erga liberos & familiares comitatem præ se ferunt, eandem cum ceteris civibus suis, ac popularibus, usurpant. Si quis amariore joco quempiam momordit, (nam dicaces vulgo sunt, & in jocos effusi) belle dissimulant, aut vicem reponunt, & absentes remordent; nam præsentes cavillari, aut coram dictis incessere, religio est. Non aliud libentiùs convicium regerunt lacessiti, quàm si hominem ingenio carere dicant. Scilicet ingenii laudem vindicant sibi; nec temere. Nemo inter illos hebes, ac tardus; quod nativa illorum in deliberando prudentia, & in dicendo facundia, declarat. Auditi quidem sæpe sunt tam appositè ad persuadendum perorare, idque ex tempore, ut admirationem exercitatissimis in dicendi palæstra moverent.

Respondet ingenio corpus, aptum membris, proceritate formosum, robore validum. Idem, qui Gallis, color; tametsi corrumpunt illum unguine, & oleo putri, quo se perungunt; necnon pigmentis variis, quibus sibi pulcri, nobis ridiculi, videntur. Alios cernas naso cæruleo, genis vero & superciliis atratis: alii frontem, nasum, & genas, lineis versicoloribus discriminant: totidem larvas intueri te putes. Ejusmodi coloribus credunt se hostibus esse terribiles; suum pariter in acie metum, quasi velo, tegi: demum pellem ipsam corporis indurari, ad vim hiberni frigoris facilius tolerandam. Præter istos colores induci pro cujusque libidine ac deleri solitos, non pauci stabiles ac perpetuas avium aut animalium, putà serpentis, aquilæ, bufonis, imagines imprimunt cuti, hunc in modum. Subulis, cuspidibus, aut spinis collum, pectus, genasve ita pungunt, ut rudia rerum istarum lineamenta effingant: mox in punctam & cruentam cutem immittunt atrum è carbone comminuto pulverem, qui cum sanguine concretus impressas effigies ita inurit vivæ carni, ut eas nulla temporis diuturnitas expungat. Totæ quædam nationes, ea præsertim quæ a Tabaco nomen habet, itemque alia quæ Neutra dicitur, id constanti more ac lege usurpat, nec sine periculo interdum; maxime si est tempestas frigidior, aut debilior [347] corporis constitutio. Tunc enim dolore victi, licet eum ne gemitu quidem significent, linquuntur animo, & exanimes aliquando concidunt. Laudant oculos exiles, labra repanda & prominentia: pars radunt comam, pars alunt: his nudum sinciput, illis occiput: aliis coma tota surrigitur in vertice, aliis parcè ad tempora utrimque propendet. Barbam, instar monstri, execrantur; ac si quis in mento succrescat pilus, statim vellunt. Viri æque ac feminæ imas auriculas pertundunt: & iis inaures è vitro, testisve piscium, inferunt. Quo foramen amplius est, eo censent formosius. Nunquam ungues resecant. Europæos rident, qui defluentem è naribus humorem candidis sudariis excipiant, &, Quo, inquiunt, rem adeo sordidam reservant isti? Saltantes curvant arcuatim corpus prono capite, & brachia sic agitant, ut qui farinam manibus subigunt, raucùm identidem grunnientes. Alvum infimam succingunt lato cortice, vel animantis pelle, aut versicolore panno, cetera nudi. Feminæ pelles ex humeris & collo promittunt ad genua. Zonas atque armillas, è concha veneria, quam vulgo porcellanam appellamus, aut seta hystricis non inscite contextas, gestant: torques hunc in modum confectos magno habent in pretio. Storeas è marisco (junci marini genus est) satis eleganter elaborant: iis pavimentum sternunt, in iisdem carpunt somnos, aut in vitulorom marinorum, fibrorumve mollibus exuviis. Dormiunt circa focum in mapali medio semper ardentem, si frigus est: sub dio, si æstas.

Mensam, aut cathedram, in casa tota videas nullam; in clunes subsidunt, simiarum instar: is vescentium, is deliberantium, & confabulantium habitus est. Adeuntes amicos salutant inepto risu; sæpius ho, hho, hhho, conclamantes. Cum vescuntur, potum dapibus non intermiscent, neque identidem bibunt; sed semel tantùm, sumpto cibo. Qui amicos convivio accipit, cum iis neque accumbit, nec ciborum partem ullam attingit, sed epulantibus dividit: aut, si quem adhibet structorem, sedet seorsum jejunus, & spectat. Inter edendum silent: salem aversantur, & condimenta: ossa canibus projicere piaculum arbitrantur: igni cremant, vel terræ infodiunt. Si enim, inquiunt, ursi, fibri, & aliæ, quas venando captamus, feræ, ossa sua permitti canibus, & comminui, rescirent; non tam facile capi se paterentur. Adipem è pinguibus collectum cibis, abstergunt coma; genis interdum brachiisve allinunt, elegantiæ, ut aiunt, causa, & valetudinis: nam adipe non solum nitere cutem, sed corroborari membra existimant. Non alio cibo vescuntur libentius quàm Sagamita. Pulmentum est è farina, præsertim Indici tritici, confectum: admisto, quod illis condimentum præcipuè sapit, oleo. Itaque in conviviis pars dapum prima oleum, aut adeps, in quem concretum & spissum ita dentes infigunt, ut nos in panem aut pomum. Antequam illis lebetes, cortinæ, aliaque id genus vasa ærea deferrentur è Gallia, utebantur cacabis è cortice compactis; verùm quia imponi flammis non poterant impunè, hanc ad coquendas carnes artem excogitaverant. Silices plurimos conjiciebant in focum, donec penitus ignem combibissent. Candentes in ollam frigida plenam & carnibus alios atque alios subinde immittebant. Ad hunc modum aqua calefacta carnes citius opinione faciliusque percoquit. Ad tergendas manus utuntur piloso canum tergo, cui illas affricant; item scobe ligni putris. Hæc matribus vice panniculorum est, ad purgandas infantium sordes; hæc instar culcitæ languidis corporibus substernitur. Vasa coquinaria, non extergunt. Quo sunt crasso pingui magis oblita, eo melius, illorum judicio, nitent. Turpe ducunt & superbum inambulare inter colloquendum. Odorem mosci graviter ferunt, & meram esse mephitim putant, præ carnis rancidæ, aut adipis mucidi frusto.

Sexcenta sunt ejus generis, in quibus longissimè recedunt ab Europæorum institutis: sed ab illorum vitiis propius absunt, eaque vel æquant, vel superant. Gulæ irritamenta, & inimicas bonæ ac sanæ menti potiones, ab Europæis mercatoribus acceperunt, quibus lucri bonus est odor, etiam ex flagitio, & scelerata nundinatione. Tandiu esse pergunt, dum adest quod edant: nihil in crastinum, aut hyemem, reponunt: nec famem valde reformidant, quia se ferre diuturnam posse confidunt. Conviviis ea lex posita consensu moribusque gentis est, ut omnia fercula consumantur. Si quis edit parciùs, & excusat valetudinem, plectitur, aut ejicitur, ut insulsus, quasi qui vivendi artem nesciat. Primaria supellectilis domesticæ pars, olla est, sive ahenum, in quo carnes coquuntur. Opes lebetum numero metiuntur: nec regem Galliæ aliam ob causam initio magni æstimabant; quàm quòd plures habere ollas dicebatur. Quanta sit apud exleges, & omni freno solutos, intemperantiæ impunitas & licentia, præsertim in adolescentibus, promptum est intelligere: nam grandiores natu libidinem certis finibus circumscribunt, cùm æstus cupiditatum deferbuit: nec impune est peccanti feminæ.