pile, and was fo far from being in the leaft afraid, that the rejoiced much. I went up to her, and afked her, if it was her own free will and confent? She told me it was, and that he was much cblig. ed to me for giving her liberty to burn in that place, and defired I would not offer to oppofe it, as he would certainly make away with herfelf, was the prevented. She fat there talking with her friends and neighbours, till the pile was ready, which was above an hour, and then went a little diftance off, where the deceafed was alfo carried, and were both washed with Ganges water, and clean cloaths put on them. The fon of the deceased then put a painted paper crown, or cap, on his father's head, of the fame kind as is ufual for them to wear at their marriages; and a Bramin woman brought four lamps burning, and put one of them into the woman's hand, and placed the other three round her, upon the ground: all the time he held the lamp in her hand, the Bramin woman was repeating fome prayers to her; which when finithed, the put a garland of flowers round her head, and then gave the fon of the deceated, who was ftanding close by, a ring made of grass, which he put upon one of his fingers, and an earthen plate full of boiled rice and plantains mixed up together, which he immediately offered to his deceafed father, putting it three times to his mouth, and then in the fame manner to his mother, who did not tafte it. The deceased was fupported all this time, and fet upon his breech clofe by his wife, who never fpoke after this, but made three felams

to her husband, by putting her hands upon the foles of his feet, and then upon her own head. The deceafed was then carried away and laid upon the pile, and his wife immediately followed, with a pot under her arm, containing 21 couries, 21 pieces of fafron, 21 pons for betel-nat, and the leaf made up ready for chewing; one little piece of iron, and one piece of fandal-wood. When he got to the pile, he looked a little at her hufband, who was lying upon it, and then walked feven times round it; when the fopped at his feet, and made the fame obeisance to him as before. She then mounted the pile without help, and laid herself down by her husband's fide, putting the pot the carried with her clofe to her head; which as foon as done, the clafped her hufband in her arms; and the fon, who was standing ready with a wifp of ftraw lighted in his hand, put the blaze of it three times to his father and mother's mouths, and then fet the pile on fire all round, whilft the populace threw reeds and light wood upon them; and they were both burnt to afhes in less than an hour. I believe the foon died, for the never moved, though there was no weight upon her but what the might have eafily overfet, had he had any inclination. It was entirely a voluntary act, and fhe was as much in her fenfes as ever fhe was in her life. I forgot to mention that he had her forehead painted with red paint, which the scraped off with her nails, and diftributed amongst her friends, and also gave them chewed betel out of her mouth, for which favours every one feemed very folicitous. The above, I

affure

what I faw.

Account of the Inhabitants of Wallachia, by Baron Inigo Born.

TH

HEIR manner of living is extremely rough and favage. They want religion, arts and fciences. Their children are from their first infancy washed every day in the open air, in warm water, and then fwathed in coarfe linen or woollen cloth. The difference of the seasons and the weather makes herein no difference. From the fifth to the twelfth or fourteenth year of their age they are left with the herds and flocks to attend them; however, the girls are taught in the fame time wash. ing, baking, spinning, making needle-work, weaving, and fo on. From the fourteenth year they are brought up and employed in huf bandry. Kukuruz, or maiz, is their chief object of agriculture. However, they fow likewife oats, barley, and wheat. They diftil from the fruits of trees, which they plant in great plenty, a fort of brandy, called rakie, which they are very fond of. Their meat is as fimple as their drefs. Bifcuit of coarse grinded maiz, baked under afhes, which they call malai, fome flesh, milk, cheese, beans, and other vegetables, are their common food, their drefs is various, but generally it confifts of the following articles. The men wear long white woollen trowfers, as the Hungarians, but wider foles of raw skin tied about the feet inftead of fhoes; a fhirt open on the breaft; a woollen jacket or cost, tight around the wait, with

bonnet, for the head. The women have long fhirts down to the ancles; a brown variegated striped petticoat open on both fides, and tied with a girdle; a waistcoat or gar ment of coarse cloth, fomewhat fhorter than the fhirts, and an annular bolfter ftuffed with hair or ftraw upon their head, which they cover with a woven cloth. The Their orgirls go bare-headed. naments confift of ear-rings of white or yellow brafs, of coloured glafs, beads, pearls, glafs, feathers, and pieces of money fastened to a ftring, and tied round the head and neck. This ornament makes a ringing, fo that a fine dreffed Raize, or Wallachian girl, may very often be heard fooner than feen. They marry very young: and there are married couples, the man not above fourteen; the wife even not twelve years of age. Some manual arts feem to be peculiar to them. Scarce any where but you will find a cartwright or a weaver ; every Wallachian being a cartevery woman wright, and

a

weaver. No woman is feen going about without fome work in hand. What they bring to fale they carry on their heads. If they have a child to nurfe, it is carried in the fame manner. The fpindle is fticking in their girdle, and all the way they are spinning. All their neceffaries are worked up by themfelves. Scarce any tradesmen nor any beggars are feen among them, What can I fay to you of their religion? They confefs the nonunited Greek religion, Græci ritus non unitorum. But, in fact, they have scarce more religion than their domeftic animals, except repeatedl faftings, which almost take up half

the

the year, and are fo extremely fevere, that they dare not eat any meat, eggs, or milk; they scarce have any idea of other religious duties. But in thefe faftings they are fo fcrupulous that they do not break them, even should they flight every other divine or human law. A robber will never indulge himielf contrary to this abftinence, nor lie with his own or another man's wife, for fear that God might in this cafe withdraw his blefling, from his trade. What barbarim what humiliating ideas of the Supreme Being! The ignorance and fuperftition of the bonzes cannot poffibly be above that of their popes. Some of them are fo igno. rant as to be unable to read; what can they teach the poor poople? They plow and till their ground, they attend their herds like other pealants, deal in every trade as Jews, and get drunk at the expence of their ftupid parishioners, who fell them their fins, and think to be happy, and to be faved, if they ditcharge their own and their deceafed relations' fins at a good price.

The religious rites and ceremonies of this people favour rather of Paganifm and Judaifm, than of that religion which they profefs. For example; no woman will attempt to kill any animal whatever it be. The bride is on her wedding day, and the day before, conantly hid under a veil. Whoever unveils her is entitled to a kifs; and, if the define it, obliged to make her a prefent. The women are in the churches feparated from the men. Their funerals are fingular. The corpfe is with dimal ricks brought to the tomb, in which it is funk down as foon as

the pope has done with his ritual. At this moment the friends and relations of the deceafed raise hor rid cries. They remind the deccafed of his friends, parents, cattle, houfe and household, and afk for what reafon he left them. As no answer enfues, the grave is filled up, and a wooden crofs with a large fione placed at the head, to avoid the dead becoming a vampy, or a trolling nocturnal bloodfucker. Wine is thrown upon the grave, and frankincenfe burnt around it, to drive away evil fpirits and witches. This done they go home; bake bread of wheat flour, which to the expiation of the deceafed they eat, plentifully drinking to be the better comforted themfelves. The folemn fhrieks, libations of wine, and fumigations about the tomb, continue during fome days, nay even fome weeks, repeated by the neareft relations. The funeral of a bridegroom is ftill more folemn. A pole, fome fathoms long, is fixed to his tomb, and the bride hangs on it a gar land, a quill, and a white handkerchief.

If they engage them felves in an indiffoluble friendship in life and death, they put the form of a croís in the veffel or the cup from which they eat or drink; fwearing everlafting fidelity. This ceremony is never to be flighted. It is generally a previous rite to robberies. The fame ceremony is reforted to as the moft efficacious bond; for example, if robbers release a man, by whom they apprehend to be indifted, they oblige him to filence by an oath by the cross, the falt and the bread, which they call giurar pe cruce, pe pita, pe fare. Their canon law is very different

from

ricans were more remarkable for agility than ftrength. They refembled beasts of prey, rather than animals formed for labour. They were not only averse to toil, but incapable of it; and when rouzed by force from their native indolence, and compelled to work, they funk under tasks which the people of the other continent would have performed with cafe. This feebleness of conftitution was univerfal among the inhabitants of thofe regions in America which we are furveying, and may be confidered as characteristic of the fpecies there.

The beardless countenance and fmooth skin of the American feems to indicate a defect of vigour, occafioned by fome vice in his frame. He is deftitute of one fign of manhood and of ftrength. This peculiarity, by which the inhabitants of the New World are diftinguished from the people of all other nations, cannot be attributed, as fome travellers have fuppofed, to their mode of fubfiftence. For though the food of many Americans be fo extremely infipid, that they are altogether unacquainted with the ufe of falt, rude tribes in other parts of the earth have fubfifted on aliments equally fimple without this mark of degradation, or any apparent fymptom of a diminution in their vigour.

As the external form of the Americans leads us to fufpect that there is fome natural debility in their frame, the fmallnefs of their appetite for food has been mentioned by many authors as a confirmation of this fufpicion. The quantity of food which men confume varies according to the temperature of the climate in which they live, the de

gree of activity which they exert, and the natural vigour of their conftitutions. Under the enervating heat of the torrid zone, and when men país their days in indolence and cafe, they require less nourishment than the active inhabitants of temperate or cold countries. But neither the warmth of their climate, nor their extreme laziness, will account for the uncommon defect of appetite among the Americans. The Spaniards were aftonished with obferving this, not only in the islands, but in feveral parts of the continent. The conftitutional temperance of the natives far exceeded, in their opinion, the abftinence of the mot mortified hermits; while on the other hand, the appetite of the Spaniards appeared to the Americans infatiably voracious; and they affirmed, that one Spaniard devoured more food in a day than was fufficient for ten Americans.

A proof of fome feeblenefs in their frame ftill more ftriking, is the infenfibility of the Americans to the charms of beauty, and the power of love. That paffion which was deftined to perpetuate life, to be the bond of focial union, and the fource of tenderness and joy, is the most ardent in the human breaft; and though the perils and hardships of the favage ftate, though exceffive fatigue, on fome occafions, and the difficulty at all times of procuring fubfiftence, may feem to be adverfe to this paffion, and to have a tendency to abate its vigour, yet the rudeft nations in every other part of the globe feem to feel its influence more powerfully than the inhabitants of the New World. The negro glows with all the warmth of defire natural to