Page:The History of the American Indians.djvu/450

 438 General Obfervations on

At his requeft, I fpoke alfo of our fldlful phyficians and quack-do&Qrs; I told him that the former commonly cured the fick, or difeafed, unlefs the malady was of an uncommon nature, or very dangerous by not applying in time, before it took root beyond the reach of any cure ; but that the empirics feldom failed of poifoning their weak patients by flow degrees ,. and that we had old women likewife who frequently did much good with> bare fimples. He faid, if our phyficians ufed fimples in due time, to afiift nature, inftead ef burning corroEve mixtures, they would have no- occafion to difmember poor people^ cutting off their limbs in fo horrid a. manner, as feveral were reported to do ; and that, if our law was fo weak as not to condemn thofe to death, who took away the lives of low innocent people, yet the ftrong feelings of nature ought to incite the furviving rela tions of the murdered perfons> to revenge their blood on the murderers, by beating them with long knobbed poles, while they were fenfible of pain, and as foon as they recovered a little, to cut off their ears and nofe with a dull knife, as in the cafe of adultery, in order to quench innocent blood v and teach unwary people to avoid and deteft the execrated criminals. Here, the red' audience highly applauded the wifdom andjuftice of his medical obfervations, besaufe they exactly corresponded with. their own ftandard hi; fimilar cafes.

Well, faid he, you have given us plainly to underftand the high efteem the Englifh bear to their people of cunning heads and ftrong mouths* and to the curers of ailments If the former continue honefl when they- have gained deep knowledge in their old books ; and the latter arc fuc- cefsful in the killing, or healing quality of their ftrong medicines : We fhould rejoice, if you would likewife inform us, according to your written traditions, of the firft rife of Oobacbe^ " bringers of rain," and of IJhto- koollo EchetOy " high-priefts, popes, or arch-bimops ;" whether the fu- preme fatherly chieftain gave them from the beginning to the white people, or if not, how he came to give them afterward -, and whether, their lives give virtuous leffons to youth, to induce them to a ftrift obfervance of the divine law, as modefty and humility fhould always appear in the fpeech anci behaviour of public teachers, on account of their charming influence Inform us of their ufefulnefs in religious and civil life, and the general opi nion of the difmterefted and wife part of the community concerning them ;

as

�� �