Here The Wives Are Burned Along With The Bodies Of Their Deceased Husbands, And If They Will Not, Their Heads Are Shaven And They Are Not Afterwards Esteemed.

The people go all naked, except a small cloth about their middles.

The women have their necks, arms, and ears decorated with rings of silver, copper, and tin, and with round hoops of ivory, adorned with amber stones and many agates, and have their foreheads marked with a great red spot, whence a stroke of red goes up the crown, and one to each side. In their winter, which is in May, the men wear quilted gowns of cotton, like to our counterpanes, and quilted caps like our grocers large mortars, with a slit to look out at, tied beneath their ears. When a man or woman is sick and like to die, they are laid all night before the idols, either to help their sickness or make an end of them. If they do not mend that night, the friends come and sit up with them, and cry for some time, after which they take them to the side of the river, laying them on a raft of reeds, and so let them float down the river.

When they are married the man and woman come to the water side, where there is an old bramin or priest, a cow and calf, or a cow with calf. Then the man and woman, together with the cow and calf, go into the river, giving the old bramin a piece of cloth four yards long, and a basket cross bound, in which are sundry things.

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