nhabitants of that
countrey do worship a liuing oxe, as their god, whom they put to labour for
sixe yeres, and in the seuenth yere they cause him to rest from al his
worke, placing him in a solemne and publique place, and calling him an holy
beast Moreouer they vse this foolish ceremonie: Euery morning they take two
basons, either of siluer, or of gold, and with one they receiue the vrine
of the oxe, and with the other his dung. With the vrine they wash their
face, their eyes, and all their fiue senses. Of the dung they put into both
their eyes, then they anoint the bals of the cheeks therewith, and thirdly
their breast: and then they say that they are sanctified for all that day;
And as the, people doe, euen so doe their King and Queene. This people
worshippeth also a dead idole, which, from the nauel vpward, resembleth a
man, and from the nauel downeward an oxe. The very same Idol deliuers
oracles vnto them, and sometimes requireth the blood of fourtie virgins for
his hire. And therefore the men of that region do consecrate their
daughters and their sonnes vnto their idols, euen as Christians do their
children vnto some Religion or Saint in heauen. Likewise they sacrifice
their sonnes and their daughters, and so, much people is put to death
before the said Idol by reason of that accursed ceremony. Also, many other
hainous and abominable villanies doeth that brutish beastly people commit:
and I sawe many moe strange things among them which I meane not here to
insert. [Sidenote: The burning of their dead.] Another most vile custome
the foresaide nation doeth retaine: for when any man dieth they burne his
dead corps to ashes: and if his wife suruiueth him, her they burne quicke,
because (say they) she shall accompany her husband in his tilthe and
husbandry, when he is come into a new world. Howbeit the said wife hauing
children by her husband, may if she will, remain with them, without shame
or reproach; notwithstanding, for the most part, they all of them make
choice to be burnt with their husbands. Now, albeit the wife dieth before
her husband, that law bindeth not the husband to any such inconuenience,
but he may mary another wife also. Likewise, the said nation hath another
strange custome, in that their women drink wine, but their men do not. Also
the Women haue the lids and brows of their eyes and beards shauen, but the
men haue not: with many other base and filthy fashions which the said women
do vse contrary to the