They Have Also Plenty Of Melons, Pompions, Gourds, Cucumbers,
And Pease And Beans Of Various Colours, All Different From Ours.
They
have likewise a certain kind of herb of which they lay up a store every
summer, having first dried it in the sun.
This is only used by the men,
who always carry some of this dried herb in a small skin bag hanging
from their necks, in which they also carry a hollow piece of stone or
wood like a pipe. When they use this herb, they bruise it to powder,
which they put into one end of the before-mentioned pipe, and lay a
small piece of live coal upon it, after which they suck so long at the
other end that they fill their bodies full of smoke, till it comes out
of their mouth and nostrils, as if from the chimney of a fire-place.
They allege that this practice keeps them warm and is conducive to
health, and they constantly carry some of this herb about with them for
this purpose. We have tried to use this smoke, but on putting it to our
mouths it seemed as hot as pepper. The women among these savages labour
much more than the men, in tilling the ground, fishing, and other
matters; and all of them, men, women, and children, are able to resist
the extremity of cold better even than the wild beasts; for we have seen
them in the extremest cold, which is most amazingly severe, come stark
naked to our ships over the ice and snow, which must appear incredible
to those who have not witnessed such hardiness.
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