" (Volney's "View of the United States.")
The Mexicans represent an eclipse of the moon as the moon being devoured
by a dragon; and the Hindoos have precisely the same figure; and both
nations continued to use this expression long after they had discovered
the real meaning of an eclipse.
The Tartars believe that if they cut with an axe near a fire, or stick a
knife into a burning stick, or touch the fire with a knife, they will
"cut the top off the fire." The Sioux Indians will not stick an awl or a
needle into a stick of wood on the fire, or chop on it with an axe or a
knife.
Cremation was extensively practised in the New World. The dead were
burnt, and their ashes collected and placed in vases and urns, as in
Europe. Wooden statues of the dead were made.
There is a very curious and apparently inexplicable custom, called the
"Couvade," which extends from China to the Mississippi Valley; it
demands "that, when a child is born, the father must take to his bed,
while the mother attends to all the duties of the household." Marco Polo
found the custom among the Chinese in the thirteenth century.
The widow tells Hudibras--
"Chineses thus are said
To lie-in in their ladies' stead.
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