people, I will reply that a part of them are nomads, wandering during
the winter in the woods, whither the hope of better hunting calls
them--in the summer, on the shores of the rivers, where they easily
obtain their food by fishing; while others inhabit villages. They
construct their huts by fixing poles in the ground; they cover the
sides with bark, the roofs with hides, moss and branches. In the
middle of the hut is the hearth, from which the smoke escapes through
an opening at the peak of the roof. As the smoke passes out with
difficulty, it usually fills the whole hut, so that strangers compelled
to live in these cabins suffer injury and weakening of the eyes; the
savages, a coarse race, and accustomed to these discomforts, ridicule
this. The care of household affairs, and whatever work there may be
in the family, are placed upon the women. They build and repair the
wigwams, carry water and wood, and prepare the food; their duties
and position are those of slaves, laborers and beasts of burden.
The pursuits of hunting and war belong to the men. Thence arise the
isolation and numerical weakness of the race. For the women, although
naturally prolific, cannot, on account of their occupation in these
labors, either bring forth fully-developed offspring, or properly
nourish them after they have been brought forth; therefore they either
suffer abortion, or forsake their new-born children, while engaged
in carrying water, procuring wood and other tasks, so that scarcely
one infant in thirty survives until youth. To this there is added
their ignorance of medicine, because of which they seldom recover from
illnesses which are at all severe.
They believe that there are two main sources of disease: one of these
is in the mind of the patient himself, which desires something,
and will vex the body of the sick man until it possesses the thing
required. For they think that there are in every man certain inborn
desires, often unknown to themselves, upon which the happiness of
individuals depends. For the purpose of ascertaining desires and innate
appetites of this character, they summon soothsayers, who, as they
think, have a divinely-imparted power to look into the inmost recesses
of the mind. These men declare that whatever first occurs to them, or
something from which they suspect some gain can be derived, is desired
by the sick person. Thereupon the parents, friends, and relatives of
the patient do not hesitate to procure and lavish upon him whatever it
may be, however expensive, a return of which is never thereafter to be
sought. The patient enjoys the gift, divides a portion of it among the
soothsayers, and often on the next day departs from life. Commonly,
however, the sick recover, plainly because their illnesses are slight;
for, in the case of more severe complaints, these soothsayers are more
cautious, and deny the possibility of ascertaining what the patient
desires; then they bewail him whom they have given up, and cause the
relatives to put him out of the way. Thus they kill those afflicted
with protracted illness, or exhausted by old age, and consider this the
greatest kindness, because death puts an end to the sufferings of
the sick. They display the same benevolence towards children deprived
of their parents, whom they prefer to see dead rather than to see them
miserable. They believe that another source of disease is the hidden
arts and the charms of sorcerers, which they seek to avert by means
of absurd ceremonies. Often they expel noxious humors by sweating.
They inclose a certain portion of the hut with pieces of bark and
cover it with hides, in order that no air may enter. Within they pile
stones heated to a high temperature. They enter naked and toss their
arms while singing. But, strange to say, they will leave this heat,
dripping with perspiration, and in the very coldest part of winter cast
themselves into a lake or river, careless of pleurisy.
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.