Their women never perish in
childbed, owing, no doubt, to their never wearing stays.
They have no public religious ceremony. They acknowledge two superior
beings--a good one and a bad one. They pray to the latter not to hurt them,
and they are of opinion that the former is too good to do the man injury. I
suspect, if the truth were known, the individuals of the village never
offer up a single prayer or ejaculation. They have a kind of a priest
called a Pee-ay-man, who is an enchanter. He finds out things lost. He
mutters prayers to the evil spirit over them and their children when they
are sick. If a fever be in the village, the Pee-ay-man goes about all night
long howling and making dreadful noises, and begs the bad spirit to depart.
But he has very seldom to perform this part of his duty, as fevers seldom
visit the Indian hamlets. However, when a fever does come, and his
incantations are of no avail, which I imagine is most commonly the case,
they abandon the place for ever and make a new settlement elsewhere.
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