their customs.

These people suffer so much from lack of food that they are sometimes
obliged to live on certain shell-fish, and eat their dogs and the skins
with which they clothe themselves against the cold. I am of opinion that,
if one were to show them how to live, and teach them the cultivation of the
soil and other things, they would learn very aptly. For many of them
possess good sense, and answer properly questions put to them. They have a
bad habit of taking vengeance, and are great liars, and you must not put
much reliance on them, except judiciously, and with force at hand. They
make promises readily, but keep their word poorly. The most of them observe
no law at all, so far as I have been able to see, and are, besides, full of
superstitions. I asked them with what ceremonies they were accustomed to
pray to their God, when they replied that they had none, but that each
prayed to him in his heart, as he wished. That is why there is no law among
them, and they do not know what it is to worship and pray to God, living as
they do like brute beasts. But I think that they would soon become good
Christians, if people would come and inhabit their country, which they are
for the most part desirous of. There are some savages among them, called by
them Pilotais, whom they believe have intercourse with the devil face to
face, who tells them what they must do in regard to war and other things;
and, if he should order them to execute any undertaking, they would obey at
once. So, also, they believe that all their dreams are true; and, in fact,
there are many who say that they have had visions and dreams about matters
which actually come to pass or will do so. But, to tell the truth, these
are diabolical visions, through which they are deceived and misled. This is
all I have been able to learn about their brutish faith. All these people
are well proportioned in body, without deformity, and are agile. The women,
also, are well-formed, plump, and of a swarthy color, in consequence of
certain pigments with which they rub themselves, and which give them a