“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.”