Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/286

 which they heat in the fire, and when they are red-hot they carry them into these little huts, and the sick man or woman goes in naked, only a blanket with him, and they shut the door upon them, and there they sit and sweat until they are no more able to support it, and then they go out naked and immediately jump into the water over head and ears, and this is the remedy they have for all distempers.

The 6th day.—The Governor sent for all the young boys, and they brought with them their bows, and he got an axe, which he stuck up, and made them all shoot by turns at the eye of the axe, which was about twenty yards distant. Knives and looking-glasses were the prizes for which they shot, and they were very dexterous at this exercise, and often shot through the eye of the axe. This diversion continued about an hour. The Governor then asked the boys to dance a war dance, so they all prepared for it, and made a great ring; the musician being come, he sat himself in the middle of the ring; all the instrument he had was a piece of board and two small sticks; the board he set upon his lap. and began to sing a doleful tune, and by striking on the board with his sticks, he accompanied his voice; he made several antic motions, and sometimes shrieked hideously, which was answered by the boys. As the men sung, so the boys danced all round, endeavoring who could outdo the one the other in antic motions and hideous cries, the movements answering in some way to the time of the music. All that I could remark by their actions was, that they were representing how they attacked their enemies, and relating one to the other how many of the other Indians they had killed, and how they did it, making all the motions in this dance as if they were actually in the action. By this lively representation of their warring, one may see the base