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Every woman too, at certain times,
was forbidden to come into a dwelling-house, or touch any person, or
any thing we ate. I was so fond of my mother I could not keep from
her, or avoid touching her at some of those periods, in consequence of
which I was obliged to be kept out with her, in a little house made
for that purpose, till offering was made, and then we were purified.
Though we had no places of public worship, we had priests and
magicians, or wise men. I do not remember whether they had different
offices, or whether they were united in the same persons, but they
were held in great reverence by the people. They calculated our time,
and foretold events, as their name imported, for we called them
Ah-affoe-way-cah, which signifies calculators or yearly men, our year
being called Ah-affoe. They wore their beards, and when they died they
were succeeded by their sons. Most of their implements and things of
value were interred along with them. Pipes and tobacco were also put
into the grave with the corpse, which was always perfumed and
ornamented, and animals were offered in sacrifice to them. None
accompanied their funerals but those of the same profession or tribe.
These buried them after sunset, and always returned from the grave by
a different way from that which they went.
These magicians were also our doctors or physicians. They practised
bleeding by cupping; and were very successful in healing wounds and
expelling poisons. They had likewise some extraordinary method of
discovering jealousy, theft, and poisoning; the success of which no
doubt they derived from their unbounded influence over the credulity
and superstition of the people. I do not remember what those methods
were, except that as to poisoning: I recollect an instance or two,
which I hope it will not be deemed impertinent here to insert, as it
may serve as a kind of specimen of the rest, and is still used by the
negroes in the West Indies. A virgin had been poisoned, but it was not
known by whom: the doctors ordered the corpse to be taken up by some
persons, and carried to the grave. As soon as the bearers had raised
it on their shoulders, they seemed seized with some[F] sudden
impulse, and ran to and fro unable to stop themselves. At last, after
having passed through a number of thorns and prickly bushes unhurt,
the corpse fell from them close to a house, and defaced it in the
fall; and, the owner being taken up, he immediately confessed the
poisoning[G].
The natives are extremely cautious about poison. When they buy any
eatable the seller kisses it all round before the buyer, to shew him
it is not poisoned; and the same is done when any meat or drink is
presented, particularly to a stranger. We have serpents of different
kinds, some of which are esteemed ominous when they appear in our
houses, and these we never molest. I remember two of those ominous
snakes, each of which was as thick as the calf of a man's leg, and in
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