CANADENSIUM DOMUS & RES FAMILIARIS; MORBI; ÆGRORUM CURA & MORTUORUM.
JAM, si mores & indolem gentis requiras, partim vagi degunt, in silvis per hyemem, quò venationis uberioris vocat spes; æstate, ad amnium ripas, ubi præbet facilem annonam piscatus: aliqui pagos incolunt. Casas fabricantur infixis humi perticis: latera corticibus intexunt; pellibus, musco, ramis operiunt fastigia. In media casa focus: in summo tecto foramen, emissarium fumi. Is ægre eluctatus totam, ut plurimum, casam sic opplet, ut coactis habitare in hoc fumo advenis sæpe oculorum acies obtundatur, & hebescat: barbari, durum genus & his assuetum incommodis, rident. Domesticæ rei cura, & quidquid in familia laboris est, imponitur feminis. Illæ domos figunt, ac refigunt; aquam, & ligna devehunt, cibos apparant: vicem & locum mancipiorum, opificum, & jumentorum, implent. Venationis & belli cura, virorum est. Hinc gentis solitudo, & paucitas. Mulieres enim, ceteroquin haud infecundæ, his districtæ laboribus, neque maturos edere queunt fetus, neque alere jam editos: itaque aut abortum patiuntur, aut partus recentes destituunt, aquationi, lignationi, ceterisque operibus intentæ; vix ut trigesimus quisque infans adolescat. Accedit rei medicæ inscitia, cujus ignoratio facit ut è morbis paulo gravioribus raro emergant.
[258] Duos maximè fontes morborum statuunt: unum ex ipsa ægrotantis mente ortum, quæ desideret quidpiam, ac tandiu corpus ægrum vexet, dum re desiderata potiatur. Putant enim inesse in hominum unoquoque innata quædam desideria, sæpe ipsis ignota, quibus singulorum felicitas contineatur. Ad ejusmodi desideria & innatas appetitiones cognoscendas adhibent hariolos, quibus hanc divinitus concessam facultatem arbitrantur, ut animorum intimos recessus pervideant. Illi, quodcumque primum occurrit, aut ex quo fieri quæstum aliquem posse suspicantur, ab ægro desiderari pronunciant. Nec dubitant parentes, amici, & consanguinei ægrotantis, quidquid illud sit, quantivis pretii, comparare ac largiri ægro, nunquam postea reposcendum. Ille dono fruitur, & lucri partem hariolis aspergit; ac sæpe postridie vita cedit. Vulgo tamen relevantur ægroti, quippe levibus tentati morbis: nam in gravioribus timidiores sunt isti præstigiatores, negantque inveniri posse quid ægrotus desideret: tunc eum depositum conclamant, auctoresque sunt consanguineis ut hominem tollant è medio. Ita longiore morbo vexatos necant, aut senio fessos; eamque caritatem summam interpretantur, quia mors ærumnis languentium finem ponit. Eandem benevolentiam adhibent erga pueros parentibus orbatos, quos nullos esse malunt, quam miseros. Alterum fontem morborum esse censent veneficorum occultas artes, & præstigias, quas ridiculis cærimoniis conantur averruncare. Sæpe noxios humores ejiciunt [260] sudando. Certum casæ locum corticibus includunt, ac tegunt pellibus, ne qua possit aer aspirare. Intro congerunt lapides deustos & igne multo saturos. Subeunt nudi & brachia cantitantes jactant. Sed, quod mireris, ab his thermis egressi & sudore diffluentes, hyeme perfrigida, in lacum aut amnem se conjiciunt, de pleuritide securi.
Mortuorum cadavera nunquam efferunt per casæ januam, sed per eam partem, in quam conversus eger exspiravit. Animam putant evolare per camini spiraculum; ac ne moras trahat, casæ pristinæ desiderio, neu puerulorum aliquem discedens afflet, hoc afflatu videlicet moriturum, ut putant; crebro fuste tundunt parietes tugurii, ut eam citius exire compellant. Immortalem esse arbitrantur. Ne porro emoriatur fame, magnam vim ciborum infodiunt cum corpore; vestes, item, ollas, variamque supellectilem, magno sumptu, & multorum annorum labore conquisitam, ut iis utatur, inquiunt, ac decentius versetur in regno mortuorum. Sepulcra nobilium exstant paulum ab humo: iis perticas in morem pyramidis compactas imponunt: arcum addunt, sagittas, clypeum, & alia militiæ decora: feminarum vero tumulis, torques & monilia. Infantium corpora sepeliunt propter viam, ut eorum anima, quam ab ipsorum corporibus abire longius non putant, illabatur in prætereuntis alicujus feminæ sinum, & adhuc informem animare fetum possit. In luctu vultum inficiunt fuligine. Moniti de funere affines, vicini, & amici concurrunt in funestum tugurium. [262] Unus aliquis, si mortui conditio ferat, verba facit, neque rationem ullam ex iis prætermittit, quæ ad leniendam ægritudinem à dicendi magistris afferri solent. Excurrit in demortui laudes: hominem eum natum fuisse admonet, atque adeo morti obnoxium: qui casus emendari nequeant, fieri patientia leviores; alia id genus in eandem sententiam edisserit. Tertio die funus ducitur. Epulum funebre apponitur toti pago, singulis suam symbolam, nec malignè, conferentibus. Hujus epuli causas afferunt maximè tres: primam, ut communem mærorem leniant: alteram, ut qui amici peregrè ad funus veniunt, accipiantur honestius: tertiam, ut gratificentur extincti Manibus, quem ea liberalitate delectari existimant, & appositis etiam dapibus pasci. Peracto convivio præfectus funeris, quem in singulis familiis clarioribus, certum atque insignem habent, adesse tempus exequiarum proclamat. Omnes continuo lamentari, & ululare. Effertur cadaver propinquorum humeris, intectum fibrinis pellibus, & in feretro, è corticibus juncisve confecto compositum, collectis in glomum artubus, ut eo modo terræ mandetur, inquiunt, quo in alvo materna olim jacuit. Deponitur feretrum in constituto loco, munera quæ quisque offert mortuo, præfiguntur perticis: & appellantur illorum auctores à funeris præfecto: instauratur planctus; denique juvenes ludicro certamine inter se dimicant.
Majori sepeliuntur apparatu & luctu, qui aquis [264] obruti perierunt. Nam eorum cadavera laniantur: carnium pars cum visceribus in ignem projicitur. Id sacrificii quoddam genus est, quo placare cœlum contendunt. Iratum enim esse genti non dubitant, cum in undis quispiam extinguitur: ac si quid rite atque ordine peractum in istis funeribus non fuerit, huic piaculo calamitates omnes, quibus postea conflictantur, acceptas ferunt. Indulgent luctui per annum integrum. Primis diebus decem jacent humi, diu noctuque in ventrem proni: nefas tunc vocem ullam, nisi quæ dolorem significet, mittere; aut accedere ad ignem, aut conviviis interesse. Anno reliquo luctus continuatur; at levius. Omittuntur omnia urbanitatis officia, colloquia cum vicinis, congressus amicorum; ac si conjugem amiserint; cœlibes, donec annus fluxerit, perstant. Post octavum aut decimum quemque annum Hurones, quæ natio latè patet, omnia cadavera certum in locum ex omnibus pagis deportant, & in foveam prægrandem conjiciunt. Eum diem Mortuorum vocant. Is ubi de procerum sententia constitutus est, eruunt corpora sepulcris; alia jam consumpta, & ossibus vix hærentia; alia putri carne leviter amicta: alia scatentia fœdis vermibus, & graviter olentia. Ossa, dissoluta in saccos abdunt: cadavera nondum dissuta componunt in sarcophagis, & supplicantium ritu deferunt in destinatum locum, alto silentio, & composito gradu procedentes, non sine suspiriis, & lamentabili eiulatu. Ne vero memoria nobilium, & arte præsertim bellica insignium, [266] qui prole carent, intercidat, eligunt aliquem ætate ac robore florentem, cui demortui nomen imponunt. Ille militum statim delectum habet, ac bellum capessit, ut præclaro quopiam edito facinore, probet se non tantum nominis, sed etiam virtutis ejus, cui substituitur, heredem esse. Inferioris notæ nomina æterno silentio damnant. Itaque simul ac in pago quispiam è vita cessit, ejus nomen alta voce pronunciatur per omnes casas, ne quis illud temere usurpet. Quod si mortuum tamen appellare necesse fuerit, utuntur verborum circuitione, & præfantur quidpiam, quo mortis ominosa [346] memoria leniatur. Idque si omittatur, accipiunt in gravem contumeliam: neque atrociori maledicto vulnerari filium aut parentem posse putant, quam si huic filius, illi parens, mortuus exprobretur.
HOMES AND HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY OF THE CANADIANS; DISEASES; TREATMENT OF THE SICK AND OF THE DEAD.
NOW, if you inquire concerning the customs and character of this people, I will reply that a part of them are nomads, wandering during the winter in the woods, whither the hope of better hunting calls them—in the summer, on the shores of the rivers, where they easily obtain their food by fishing; while others inhabit villages. They construct their huts by fixing poles in the ground; they cover the sides with bark, the roofs with hides, moss and branches. In the middle of the hut is the hearth, from which the smoke escapes through an opening at the peak of the roof. As the smoke passes out with difficulty, it usually fills the whole hut, so that strangers compelled to live in these cabins suffer injury and weakening of the eyes; the savages, a coarse race, and accustomed to these discomforts, ridicule this. The care of household affairs, and whatever work there may be in the family, are placed upon the women. They build and repair the wigwams, carry water and wood, and prepare the food; their duties and position are those of slaves, laborers and beasts of burden. The pursuits of hunting and war belong to the men. Thence arise the isolation and numerical weakness of the race. For the women, although naturally prolific, cannot, on account of their occupation in these labors, either bring forth fully-developed offspring, or properly nourish them after they have been brought forth; therefore they either suffer abortion, or forsake their new-born children, while engaged in carrying water, procuring wood and other tasks, so that scarcely one infant in thirty survives until youth. To this there is added their ignorance of medicine, because of which they seldom recover from illnesses which are at all severe.
They believe that there are two main sources of disease: one of these is in the mind of the patient himself, which desires something, and will vex the body of the sick man until it possesses the thing required. For they think that there are in every man certain inborn desires, often unknown to themselves, upon which the happiness of individuals depends. For the purpose of ascertaining desires and innate appetites of this character, they summon soothsayers, who, as they think, have a divinely-imparted power to look into the inmost recesses of the mind. These men declare that whatever first occurs to them, or something from which they suspect some gain can be derived, is desired by the sick person. Thereupon the parents, friends, and relatives of the patient do not hesitate to procure and lavish upon him whatever it may be, however expensive, a return of which is never thereafter to be sought. The patient enjoys the gift, divides a portion of it among the soothsayers, and often on the next day departs from life. Commonly, however, the sick recover, plainly because their illnesses are slight; for, in the case of more severe complaints, these soothsayers are more cautious, and deny the possibility of ascertaining what the patient desires; then they bewail him whom they have given up, and cause the relatives to put him out of the way. Thus they kill those afflicted with protracted illness, or exhausted by old age, and consider this the greatest kindness, because death puts an end to the sufferings of the sick. They display the same benevolence towards children deprived of their parents, whom they prefer to see dead rather than to see them miserable. They believe that another source of disease is the hidden arts and the charms of sorcerers, which they seek to avert by means of absurd ceremonies. Often they expel noxious humors by sweating. They inclose a certain portion of the hut with pieces of bark and cover it with hides, in order that no air may enter. Within they pile stones heated to a high temperature. They enter naked and toss their arms while singing. But, strange to say, they will leave this heat, dripping with perspiration, and in the very coldest part of winter cast themselves into a lake or river, careless of pleurisy.
They never bear out the corpses of the dead through the door of the lodge, but through that part toward which the sick person turned when he expired. They think that the soul flies out through the smoke-hole; and, in order that it may not linger through longing for its old home, nor while departing breathe upon any of the children, who by such an act would be, as they think, doomed to death, they beat the walls of the wigwam with frequent blows of a club, in order that they may compel the soul to depart more quickly. They believe it to be immortal. That it may not thereafter perish with hunger, they bury with the body a large quantity of provisions; also, garments, pots, and various utensils of great expense, and acquired by many years' labor, in order, they say, that he may use them and pass his time more suitably in the kingdom of the dead. The tombs of the chiefs are raised a little from the ground; upon them they place poles joined in the form of a pyramid; they add a bow, arrows, shield and other insignia of war; but upon the tombs of the women they place necklaces and collars. They bury the bodies of infants beside paths, in order that their souls, which they think do not depart very far from the body, may slip into the bosoms of women passing by, and animate the yet undeveloped fetus. In mourning, they stain the face with soot. When informed of a death, the relatives, neighbors, and friends assemble at the lodge where the corpse lies. If the condition of the dead permit, one of them makes a speech, in which he employs all those arguments that the most eloquent speakers are wont to use for the solace of grief. He rehearses the praises of the dead; he reminds them that the latter was born a man, and therefore liable to death; that those misfortunes which cannot be repaired are made lighter by patience; he sets forth other things of that sort to the same effect. On the third day the funeral is held. A funeral feast is provided for the whole village, each individual liberally furnishing his share. For this feast they advance three main reasons: first, that they may assuage the general grief; secondly, that those friends who come from a distance to the funeral may be more fittingly entertained; thirdly, that they may please the spirit of the dead, which, they believe, is delighted by this exhibition of liberality, and also partakes of the repast placed for him. When the feast is completed the master of the funeral, who, in each distinguished family, permanently holds this office and is greatly honored, proclaims that the time for the burial has come. All give utterance to continuous lamentations and wailings. The corpse, wrapped in beaver skins, and placed upon a bier made of bark and rushes, with his limbs bent and pressed tightly against his body in order that, as they say, he may be committed to the earth in the same position in which he once lay in his mother's womb, is borne out on the shoulders of the relatives. The bier is set down at the appointed place, the gifts which each one offers to the dead are fastened to poles, and the donors are named by the master of the funeral. The mourning is renewed; finally, boys vie with each other in a mock contest.