26 / 1060
IO
Royal
Commentaries.
BooK
I.
CH AP. VI.
Of the different
ways
of
Marriages,
and diverfity
of
Lan–
guages amonifl thenJ.
And of the
Poifons
and Witch-
crafts that
they
ufe<L
S
Uch
as
there
Indians
were
in
their eating and_
cloatbi~g, f~ch
were they
in
their Marriages, in which they were
as
beftial,
~
m their_
oth~r
manners,
exercHing coition
in
the fame way as
~~fis;
for
havm~
not
W
1ves m property,
they
ufed
their Women
as
Nature mated , .or as acadentally they
o~~rred;
without regard to Mothers, Daughters,
~r
Sifters, or
t~e
nearefi:
proxmuty of
bloud.
In fame Countries, where
ci
certain
fort
of Marriage
WlS
ufual ; thofe
V\'
omen that were free of their Bodies, were mofr efteemed, and obtained the
bell: Husbands, becaufe they were accounted aetive , and bufie in their
callin~,
when others of a more chafi and cold
ature, were rejeeted as drones, dull and
unfit for love.
In
other Countries
they
obferved a different cufiome; for the
Mothers preferved their Daughters wich great ref
pelt
and care> till the time
of
their Marriage, when bringing them into publick, they fhewed the Tokens of
their Vir_ginity.
In other parts the Father, or near of kindred, claimed a ride to
the Maidenhead of the Bride by conditions of the Marriage, before fhe was given
to the Husband.
Peter
de
Cieca
in the
24th
Chapter of
his
Book affirms the fame
7
and that Sodomy was ufed amongfr them, but yet
in
fecret, and as a crime:
though the Devil perfuaded them to
it
in their Temples, as a pleafure which their
Gods delighted
in,
that fo under the guife ofReligion he might take off that vei1
ofModefry, which covered humane nature.
There were fame, both men and Women, that prailifed the
art
of Poifoning,
fo that they could kill with it immediately, or in a certain time, or could rnal{e
mad or fools, disfigure the countenance, mak,e the body leprous, and che Limbs
to
ither and pine away.
Ev~~
Province, and every Nation had a different Tongue, or Dialett; thofe
ho fpake the fame Language they efieemed Friends and Kindred,
and
with chem
they kept peace and confederacy , all others were accounted Enemies and Stran–
gers, with whom they maintained a perpetual War, eating thofe whom they
took, as
if
they had been Animals of another
fPecie.r.
Witchcraft was more commonly ufed by the Women, than by the Men, who
to gain a reputation
to
themfelves of Wifedom of Prophecies and Predictions
of
things to come, like
Pythone/fe.r,
or
Sihyls,
treated familiarly with the Devil. Thefe
Women ,
ou~
of malice or
Envy
prailifed
this
Art
moil: commonly on
the
~en,
and
hich.
op~rated
the fame effeet as their Poifons; fuch was the conll:itu–
tion
of thefe
Jndums
i~
the
fuft
age , and
in
the time
of
their Gentilifrn , when
they had no
o~her
gwde
b~t
the Devil and their own
atures; and hereof we
fuall
more particularly treat m the fequel of this Hillory, "'hen coming to difcourfe
of
c~~
aCJ.?ns..apart we
fhall
have occaGon to mention the barbarifms and be
frialioes
which
are
refi
ecnvely
appropriated unto the
fe
eral People.
CH AP.