By the Way, we saw several Cottages at certain Distances, straggling up and down,[100] as the Ground happens to be fit for Tillage. The Field lies about the Cottage, and at other Distances,[101] there are other large Huts, not inhabited, but only serving for publick Assemblies, either upon Occasion of Rejoycings, or to consult about Peace and War.
Huts and Families in them. The Cottages that are inhabited, are not each of them for a private Family, for in some of them there are fifteen or twenty, each of which has its Nook or Corner, Bed and other Utensils to its self; but without any Partition to separate it from the rest: However, they have Nothing in Common besides the Fire, which is in the Midst of the Hut, and never goes out. It is made of great Trees, the Ends whereof are laid together, so that when once lighted, it lasts a long Time, and the first Comer takes Care to keep it up.
Manner of Building. The Cottages are round at the Top, after the Manner of a Bee-Hive, or a Reek of Hay. Some of them are sixty Foot Diameter. In Order to build them, they plant Trees as thick as a Man’s Thigh, tall and strait, and placing them in a Circle, and joyning the Tops together, form the Dome, or round Top, then they lath and cover them with Weeds. When they remove their Dwellings, they generally burn the Cottages they leave, and build new on the Ground they design to inhabit.
Their moveables.Their Moveables are some Bullocks Hides and Goats Skins well cur’d, some Mats close wove, wherewith they adorn their Huts, and some Earthen Vessels, which they are very skilful at making, and wherein they boil their Flesh or Roots, or Sagamite, which, as has been said, is their Pottage. They have also some small Baskets made of Canes, serving to put in their Fruit and other Provisions.Beds. Their Beds are made of Canes, rais’d two or three Foot above the Ground, handsomely fitted with Mats and Bullocks Hides, or Goats Skins well cur’d, which serve them for Feather Beds, or Quilts and Blankets cured with the hair on, to serve as mattresses and bedclothes; and those Beds are parted one from another by Mats hung up.
Tillage.When they design to Till the Ground, they give one another Notice, and very often above an Hundred of each Sex meet together. When they have till’d that Piece of Land, after their Manner, and spent part of the Day, those the Land belongs to, give the others to Eat, and then they spend the rest of the Day in Dancing and Merry Making. This same is practis’d from Canton to Canton, and so they till Land all together.
This Tillage consists in breaking up just the Surface of the Earth with a Sort of Wooden Instrument,Instrument for Tilling. like a little Pick-axe, which they make by splitting the End of a thick Piece of Wood, that serves for a Handle, and putting another Piece of Wood sharp Pointed at one End into the Slit. This Instrument serves them instead of a Hoe, or Spade, for they have no Iron Tools. When the Land has been thus till’d or broke up, the Women SowWomen sow. and Plant the Indian Corn, Beans, Pompions, Water Melons, and other Grain and Garden Ware, which is for their Sustenance.
The Indians are generally Handsom,Indians disfigure themselves. but disfigure themselves by making Scores, or Streaks on their Faces, from the Top of the Forehead down the Nose to the Tip of the Chin; which is done by pricking the Skin with Needles, or other sharp Instruments, till it bleeds, whereon they strew fine Powder of Charcoal, and that sinks in and mixes with the Blood within the Skin. They also make after the same Manner, the Figures of living Creatures, of Leaves and Flowers on their Shoulders, Thighs, and other Parts of their Bodies, and Paint themselves, as has been said before, with Black or Red, and sometimes both together.
Women.The Women are generally well Shap’d, and would not be disagreeable, did they adhere to Nature; but they Disguise themselves as ridiculously as the Men, not only with the Streak they have like them down their Face, but by other Figures they make on it, at the Corners of their Eyes, and on the other Parts of their Bodies; whereof they make more particular Show on their Bosom, and those who have the most, are reckoned the handsomest; tho’ that pricking in that Part be extremely painful to them.
It is they that do all the Work[102] in the Cottage, either in Pounding the Indian Corn and Baking the Meal,They do the Work at Home. or making the Pottage of the said Meal, by them call’d Sagamite, or in dressing their other Provisions, or drying or parching, or smoaking their Flesh, fetching the Wood they have Occasion for, or the Flesh of Bullocks, or other Beasts kill’d by their Husbands in the Woods, which are often at a great Distance, and afterwards Dressing them as has been said. They Sow and Plant, when the Land has been broke up, and in short, do almost all that is requisite for the Support of Life.
Their Behaviour.I did not observe that those Women were naturally given to Lewdness; but their Virtue is not Proof against some of our Toys, when presented them, as Needles, Knives, and more particularly Strings of Beads, whereof they make Necklaces and Bracelets, and that Temptation is rarely resisted by them, and the less because they have no Religion or Law to prohibit that vile Practice. It is true their Husbands, when they take them in the Fact, sometimes do punish them, either by Separation or otherwise; but that is rare.