Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
PRE- AND EARLY COLONIAL LITERATURE
live like brute beasts; but I think that they would soon be converted to Christianity
if some people would settle among them and cultivate their soil, which is what
most of them wish. They have among them some savages whom they call Pilotois,
who, they believe, talk with the devil face to face, who tells them what they must
do, whether in case of war or in regard to other matters; and if he should command
them to carry out a certain enterprise they would obey his command at once. They
believe, also, that all the dreams that they have are true; and, in fact, there are a
great many of them who say that they have seen and dreamed things which have
come to pass or will take place. But, to tell the truth about the matter, these are
diabolical visions, which deceive them and lead them astray. This is all that I have
been able to learn about their brutish belief.
All these people are well-built, without deformity, and are active. The women
are equally well-formed, plump, and of a tawny complexion, because of certain
pigments which they put on which make them look olive-colored. They are dressed
in skins; a part of the body is covered, the rest is naked; but in winter they make
up for it, for they are dressed in good furs, like elk, otter, beaver, bear, seal, deer
and roe, which they have in great quantity. In winter, when there is a great deal of
snow, they make a sort of racquets, which are three or four times as large as those
in France, which they attach to their feet, and in this way they can go in the snow
without sinking in; without them they could not hunt or go in many places. They
have an odd sort of marriage, namely: when a girl is fourteen or fteen years old,
and she has several suitors, she may associate with all of them that she likes. Then
at the end of ve or six years she makes her own choice from them of a husband, and
they live together to the end of their lives. But if, after living some time together,
there are no children, then the man may unmarry himself and take another wife,
saying that his own is good for nothing. Thus the girls are freer thar the women.
After marriage they are chaste, and the husbands are, for the most part, jealous.
They give presents to the fathers or relatives of the girls whom they have married.
These are the ceremonies and ways that they employ in their marriages.
As for their burials, when a man or a woman dies, they dig a big grave, where
they put all the possessions that they had, such as kettles, furs, axes, bows, arrows,
robes and other things; then they put the body in the grave and cover it with earth,
and put a great many large pieces of wood on top, and one piece erect This they
paint red on the upper part They believe in the immortality of the soul, and say that
they will be happy in other lands with their relatives and friends who are dead. In
the case of captains and others in positions of authority, they come, after the death,
three times a year for a celebration and dance, and sing on the grave.
They are very timid and constantly fear their enemies, and scarcely sleep at
all wherever they are, although I reassured them every day as much as I could
and advised them to do as we do, namely: let some watch while others sleep,
and let each one have his arms ready, like him who was on guard; and that they
should not take dreams for the truth, on which to rely. But these teachings were
of little use, and they said that we understood better than they how to protect
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