“These shiftless Indians,” says Mather, “their housing is nothing but a
few mats tied about poles fastened into the earth, where a good fire is
their bed-clothes in the coldest season: their diet has not a greater
dainty; a handful of meal and a spoonful of water being their food for
many days; for they depend on the produce of their hunting and fishing,
and badly cultivated grounds: thus they are subject to long fastings.
They have a cure for some diseases, even a little cave: after they have
terribly heated it, a crew of them go and sit there with the priest,
looking in the heat and smoke like so many fiends, and then they rush
forth on a sudden, and plunge into the water: how they escape death,
instead of getting cured, is marvellous; they are so slothful, that their
poor wives must plant, and build, and beat their corn. All the religion
they have is a belief in many gods, who made the different nations of the
world, but chiefly in one great one of the name of Kicktan, who dwelt in
the south-west regions of the heavens, who created the original parents
of mankind, who, though never seen by the eye of man, was entitled to
their gratitude, that we have in us immortal souls, which, if good,
should go to a splendid entertainment with Kicktan; but, otherwise, must
wander about in a restless horror for ever.”