The word for mourning is marabae [S: marahaze; margin: magarihe]. Among their customs is this: that when some relative is killed, they do not cease mourning until they have avenged him [(on the Spaniards)]. If the dead person is a near relative, they quit mourning, when they have either killed a man or taken captive a woman. They cut their hair. In time of mourning, they withdraw into the house of the principal and nearest relative; and there, covered with old and filthy blankets, they crouch on the floor and remain in this position without talking or eating, for three days. During this time they only drink. After the three days, they eat nothing which has come in contact with fire until they have taken vengeance or observed their custom [S: ceremony]. They place on their feet and wrists some rings of a certain wood, called bejuco.[1] When the reasons for mourning are not so serious, they are released from it by striking with a lance or a dagger a deer or a wild boar, even if the animal be already dead.
In every port [S: village] we find that the people have their god. All of them call him divate [S: Diuata], and for surname they give him the name of their village. They have a god of the sea and a god of the rivers. To these gods they sacrifice swine, reserving for this especially those of a reddish color. For this sacrifice they rear such as are very large and fat. They have priests, whom they call bailanes; and they believe that the priests talk with their gods. When they are about to perform the sacrifice, they
- ↑ A term ( imported from America, and from the Nahuatl language) applied to several species of Calamus: the rattan—a plant of great use to the natives for many purposes.
