184.—ANTIS INDIANS FISHING.
When one of this nation dies, his relatives and friends assemble in his abode, seize the corpse (which is wrapped in the loose sack-like frock usually worn,) by the head and feet, and throw it into the river. They then wreck the dwelling, break the deceased’s bow, arrows, and pottery, scatter the ashes of his hearth, devastate his crops, cut down to the ground the trees which he has planted, and finally set fire to his hut. The place is thenceforth reputed impure, and is shunned by all passers-by; vegetation very soon reasserts its sway, and the dead is for ever effaced from the memory of the living.
185.—PERUVIAN INTERPRETER.
These people who thus treat their dead so badly, profess an equal disdain for the aged, for whom they reserve the refuse of their food, their worn-out rags, and the worst place at the hearth.
Their religion is a jumble of theogonies, in which however are recognizable a notion of the existence of a supreme God, the idea of the two principles of good and evil, and finally, a belief in reward or punishment on leaving this life.
The manners of these tribes are, as may be seen, a somewhat singular medley; free will is the ruling law and, as it were, the wisdom of their race, which lives unfettered in the bosom of nature.
The Antis Indians have a soft smooth idiom, which they speak with extreme volubility in a low, gentle tone that never varies.