Page:The History of the American Indians.djvu/228

 1 6 On the defcent of the American Indians from the yews.

after his deceafe, and that the outftanding parties for war, addrefs the great fpirit every day till they fet off, with facrifices, longs, and feafting.

We are alfo told, that the men in Mexico fat tlown, and the women ftood, when they made water, which is an univerfal cuftom among our North-American Indians. Their primitive modefty, and indulgence to their women, feem to have introduced this fingular cuftom, after the manner of the ancient Mauritanians, on account of their fcantinefs of clothing, as I formerly obferved.

Lerius tells us, that the Indians of Brafil wafh themfelves ten times a day j and that the hufbands have no matrimonial intercoufe with their wives, till their children are either weaned, or grown pretty hardy ; which is fimi- lar to the cuftom of thefe northern Indians, and that of the Ifraelites, as Hof. i. 8. He fays, if a Peruvian child was weaned before its time, it was called Ainfcoy " a baftard." And that if a Brafilian wounds another, he is wounded in the fame part of the body, with equal punifhment -, limb for limb, or life for life, according to the Mofaic law ; which, within our own memory, thefe Indian nations obferved fo eagerly, that if a boy (hooting at birds, accidentally wounded another, though out of fight, with his ar row ever fo (lightly, he, or any of his family, wounded him after the very fame manner ; which is a very ftriking analogy with the Jewifli retaliation. He likewife tells us, that their Sachems, or Emperors, were the heads of their church : and according to Laet. Defcript. America, the Peruvians had one temple confecrated to the creator of the world ; befides four other religious places, in refemblance of the Jewifh fynagogues. And Mal- venda fays, the American idols were mitred, as Aaron was. He likewife affirms, as doth Acofta, that the natives obferved a year of jubilee, ac cording to the ufage of the Ifraelites.

Benzo fays, that the men and women incline very much to dancing ; and the women often by themfelves, according to the manner of the Hebrew nation-, as in i Sam. xxi. 11. efpecially after gaining a viftory over the enemy, as in Judg. xi. 34. xxi. 21. 23, and i Sam. xviii. 6, 7. Acofta tells us, that though adultery is deemed by them a capital crime, yet they at the fame time fet little value by virginity, and it feems to have been a bewailable condition, in Judea. He likewife fays, they wafh their i new

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