Page:The principal navigations, voyages, traffiques and discoveries of the English nation 15.djvu/169

 to couer them before and behind; which skinnes are painted, some yellow and red, some blacke and russet, and euery man according to his owne fancy. They do not omit to paint their bodies also with curious knots, or antike worke, as euery man in his owne fancy deuiseth, which painting, to make it continue the better, they vse with a thorne to pricke their flesh, and dent in the same, whereby the painting may haue better hold. In their warres they vse a sleighter colour of painting their faces, whereby to make themselues shew the more fierce; which after their warres ended, they wash away againe. In their warres they vse bowes and arrowes, whereof their bowes are made of a kind of Yew, but blacker then ours, and for the most part passing the strength of the Negros or Indians, for it is not greatly inferior to ours: their arrowes are also of a great length, but yet of reeds like other Indians, but varying in two points, both in length and also for nocks and feathers, which the other lacke, whereby they shoot very stedy: the heads of the same are vipers teeth, bones of fishes, flint stones, piked points of kniues, which they hauing gotten of the French men, broke the same, and put the points of them in their arrowes heads: some of them haue their heads of siluer, othersome that haue want of these, put in a kinde of hard wood, notched, which pierceth as farre as any of the rest. In their fight, being in the woods, they vse a maruellous pollicie for their owne safegard, which is by clasping a tree in their armes, and yet shooting notwithstanding: this policy they vsed with the French men in their fight, whereby it appeareth that they are people of some policy: and although they are called by the Spanyards Gente triste, that is to say, Bad people, meaning thereby, that they are not men of capacity: yet haue the French men found them so witty in their answeres, that by the captaines owne report, a counseller with vs could not giue a more profound reason.

The women also for their apparell vse painted skinnes, but most of them gownes of mosse, somewhat longer then our mosse, which they sowe together artificially, and make the same surplesse wise, wearing their haire down to their shoulders, like the Indians.

In this riuer of May aforesayd, the captaine entring with his pinnesse, found a French ship of fourescore tun, and two pinnesses of fifteene tun a piece, by her, and speaking with the keepers thereof, they tolde him of a fort two leagues vp, which they had built, in