come thither, accompanied with a great number of people
which come to see the thing, then they make ready
a great banquet, and she that shall be burned eateth
with as great ioy and gladnesse, as though it were
her wedding day: and the feast being ended, then
they goe to dancing and singing a certeine time, according
as she will. After this, the woman of her owne
accord, commandeth them to make the fire in the square
caue where the drie wood is, and when it is kindled,
they come and certifie her thereof, then presently
she leaueth the feast, and taketh the neerest kinseman
of her husband by the hand, and they both goe together
to the banke of the foresayd riuer, where shee putteth
off all her iewels and all her clothes, and giueth
them to her parents or kinsefolke and couering herselfe
with a cloth, because she will not be seene of the
people being naked, she throweth herselfe into the
riuer, saying, O wretches, wash away your sinnes.
Comming out of the water, she rowleth herselfe into
a yellow cloth of fourteene braces long: and
againe she taketh her husbands kinseman by the hand,
and they go both together vp to the pinnacle of the
square caue wherein the fire is made. When she
is on the pinnacle, shee talketh and reasoneth with
the people, recommending vnto them her children and
kindred. Before the pinnacle they vse to set
a mat, because they shall not see the fiercenesse of
the fire, yet there are many that will haue them plucked
away, shewing therein an heart not fearefull, and
that they are not affrayd of that sight. When
this silly woman hath reasoned with the people a good
while to her content, there is another women that
taketh a pot with oile, and sprinckleth it ouer her
head, and with the same she anoynteth all her body,
and afterwards throweth the pot into the fornace,
and both the woman and the pot goe together into the
fire, and presently the people that are round about
the fornace throw after her into the caue great pieces
of wood, so by this meanes, with the fire and with
the blowes that she hath with the wood throwen after
her, she is quickly dead, and after this there groweth
such sorrow and such lamentation among the people,
that all their mirth is turned into howling and weeping,
in such wise, that a man could scarse beare the hearing
of it. [Sidenote: Mourning when they should reioice.]
I haue seene many burnt in this maner, because my
house was neere to the gate where they goe out to
the place of burning: and when there dieth any
great man, his wife with all his slaues with whom
hee hath had carnall copulation, burne themselues
together with him. Also in this kingdome I haue
seene amongst the base sort of people this vse and
order, that the man being dead, he is carried to the
place where they will make his sepulchre, and setting
him as it were vpright, then commeth his wife before
him on her knees, casting her armes about his necke,
with imbracing and clasping him, vntill such time
as the Masons haue made a wall round about them, and