Title
A Voyage to the East Indies: Page 53
Description
Power, Anger, Justice and other Attributes of God. They Allow the Metempsychosis but are not so rigid as the more northern People, as they are allow’d to eat Fowl, Fish, Mutton etc. The hold the Cow in high Esteem because some ancient Traditions induce them to believe it is favour’d by the Almighty. On the Contrary they Avoid and detest the Hog, because the same Authority pronounces it Odious to God. Their Emblems of God are enclos’d in a large kind of wooden vehicle, carv’d in a curious Manner, & fix’d on two wheels; to this Carriage they fasten Ropes, some of which from the Size of the Carriage are as large as Ships Cables. These at certain Times they drag thro the Streets, from the narrowness of which, and the extreme Uneveildness of the wooden Tower, it upsets & generally kills or breaks the Bones of several, but they deem it a happy Death. A Smaller One is drawn thro the Streets every Night & Morning by a Set of Fellows who live upon Charitable Donations. They are preceded by Young Girls loaded with Ornaments, who dance very curiously thro the streets, Whilst a Number of Wretched Musicians make a most hideous Consort on Drums, Pipes & other Noisy Instruments without the least attention to regularity or Music. They pass under Canopies erected across the Streets [end page 53]
