then he taketh the cowe by the ende of the taile, and
saieth certaine wordes: and she hath a copper or a brasse pot full of
water, and the man doeth hold his hand by the olde mans hand, and the wiues
hand by her husbands, and all haue the cowe by the taile, and they poure
water out of the pot vpon the cowes taile, and it runneth through all their
hands, and they lade vp water with their handes, and then the olde man
doeth tie him and her together by their [Marginal note: This tying of new
maried folks together by the clothes, was vsed by the Mexicans in old
time.] clothes. Which done, they goe round about the cowe and calfe, and
then they giue somewhat to the poore which be alwayes there, and to the
Bramane or priest they giue the cowe and calfe, and afterward goe to diuers
of their idoles and offer money, and lie downe flat vpon the ground and
kisse it diuers times, and then goe their way. Their chiefe idoles bee
blacke and euill fauoured, their mouthes monstrous, their eares gilded, and
full of jewels, their teeth and eyes of gold, siluer, and glasse, some
hauing one thing in their handes and some another. You may not come into
the houses where they stand, with your shooes on. They haue continually
lampes burning before them. From Bannaras I went to Patenaw downe the riuer
of Ganges: where in the way we passed many faire townes, and a countrey
very fruitfull: and many very great riuers doe enter into Ganges, and some
of them as great as Ganges, which cause Ganges to bee of a great breadth,
and so broad that in the time of rain, you cannot see from one side to the
other. These Indians when they bee scorched and throwen into the water, the
men swimme with their faces downewards, the women with their faces vpwards,
I thought they tied something to them to cause them to do so: but they say
no. There be very many thieues In this countrey, which be like to the
Arabians: for they haue no certaine abode, but are sometime in one place
and sometime in another. Here the women bee so decked with siluer and
copper, that it is strange to see, they use no shooes by reason of the
rings of siluer and copper, which they weare on their toes. [Sidenote: Gold
found.] Here at Patanaw they finde gold in this maner. They digge deepe
pits in the earth, and wash the earth in great holies, and therein they
finde the gold, and they make the pits round about with bricke, that the
earth fall not in. Patenaw is a very long and a great towne. In times