ying the body, they bewailed it for the space
of three days. They anointed the bodies of those of high rank with
certain confections, which kept it from corruption better than do
our unguents of Europa. They did not bury them except in the lower
part of their houses, having placed and deposited them in a coffin
of incorruptible wood. They placed some bits of gold in the mouth,
and on the body the best jewels that they had. To that preparation
they added a box of clothing, which they placed near them, and every
day they carried them food and drink. They did not take especial pains
that, if the dead had possessed more property, everything should be
left to him; but slaves, both men and women, were presented to them
to serve them in the other life (which they no doubt imagined to
be similar to the present life). The custom that they observed with
those slaves was, to behead them immediately after having fed them
sumptuously, so that they might not fail the service and company of
such influential men, since the latter needed them, as they said. In
confirmation of that, it happened that, on the death of a chief of
that race, they killed all the sailors necessary for a boat's crew,
in order that servants, and rowers befitting his station might not
be lacking to him in the life that they ignorantly imagined for such
a person. After the conclusion of those honors, they gave themselves
up to extensive revelry and feasting, which they interspersed with
their mourning, observing a notable silence in the nearest houses
and in the streets. No one worked, just as during a festal occasion;
nor did he have to navigate under any consideration. He who opposed
the aforesaid usage did not escape death, which was inflicted on him
with rigor and without recourse.

Among all the above and many other follies, they believed that
the world had a beginning, and they had some notion of the flood;
but it was confused with the greatest nonsense and lies. They did
not doubt the fact of there having been in its time a creation of
man, but they believed that the first one had emerged from a bamboo
joint and his wife out of another, under very ridiculous and stupid
circumstances. They did not consider homicide as wrong, and the
taking of as many lives as possible was a great honor. Consequently,
the valiant and those who were feared set the heads of those who
perished at their hands on the doors of their houses, as a proof of
their deeds; for he who hu