A man is not accounted a man till he do some notable act, or show forth such courage and resolution as becometh his place. Then men take much tobacco; but for boys so to do, they account it odious.
All their names are significant and variable; for when they come to the state of men and women, they alter them according to their deeds or dispositions.
When a maid is taken in marriage, she first cutteth her hair, and after weareth a covering on her head, till her hair be grown out. Their women are diversely disposed; some as modest, as they will scarce talk one with another in the company of men, being very chaste also; yet other some light, lascivious and wanton. If a woman have a bad husband, or cannot affect him, and there be war or opposition between that and any other people, she will run away from him to the contrary party, and there live; where they never come unwelcome, for where are most women, there is greatest plenty.
When a woman hath her monthly terms, she separateth herself from all other company, and liveth certain days in a house alone; after which, she washeth herself, and all that she hath touched or used, and is again received to her husband’s bed or family. For adultery, the husband will beat his wife and put her away, if he please. Some common strumpets there are, as well as in other places; but they are such as either never married, or widows, or put away for adultery; for no man will keep such an one to wife.
In matters of unjust and dishonest dealing, the sachim examineth and punisheth the same. In case of thefts, for the first offence, he is disgracefully rebuked; for the second, beaten by the sachim with a cudgel on the naked back; for the third, he is beaten with many strokes, and hath his nose slit upwards, that thereby all men may both know and shun him. If any man kill another, he must likewise die for the same. The sachim not only passes the sentence upon malefactors, but executeth the same with his own hands, if the party be then present; if not, sendeth his own knife, in case of death, in the hands of others to perform the same.8
But if the offender be to receive other punishment, he will not receive the same but from the sachim himself; before whom, being naked, he kneeleth, and will not offer to run away, though he beat him never so much, it being a greater disparagement for a man to cry during the time of his correction, than is his offence and punishment.As for their apparel, they wear breeches and stockings in one, like some Irish, which is made of deer skins, and have shoes of the same leather. They wear also a deer’s skin loose about them, like a cloak, which they will turn to the weather side. In this habit they travel; but when they are at home, or come to their journey’s end, presently they pull off their breeches, stockings and shoes, wring out the water, if they be wet, and dry them, and rub or chafe the same. Though these be off, yet have they another small garment that covereth their secrets. The men wear also, when they go abroad in cold weather, an otter or fox skin on their right arm, but only their bracer on the left. Women, and all of that sex, wear strings about their legs, which the men never do.
The people are very ingenious and observative; they keep account of time by the moon, and winters or summers; they know divers of the stars by name; in particular they know the north star, and call it maske,9
which is to say, the bear;10 also they have many names for the winds. They will guess very well at the wind and weather beforehand, by observations in the heavens. They report also, that some of them can cause the wind to blow in what part they list—can raise storms and tempests,11 which they usually do when they intend the death or destruction of other people, that by reason of the unseasonable weather they may take advantage of their enemies in their houses. At such times they perform their greatest exploits, and in such seasons, when they are at enmity with any, they keep more careful watch than at other times.As for the language, it is very copious, large, and difficult. As yet we cannot attain to any great measure thereof; but can understand them, and explain ourselves to their understanding, by the help of those that daily converse with us. And though there be difference in a hundred miles’ distance of place, both in language and manners, yet not so much but that they very well understand each other.12
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