Such were their cures and methods, and
they used various kinds of divinations for all things. All this was
with so little aid, apparatus, or foundation--which God permitted, so
that the preaching of the holy gospel should find those of that region
better prepared for it, and so that those natives would confess the
truth more easily, and it would be less difficult to withdraw them
from their darkness, and the errors in which the devil kept them for
so many years. They never sacrificed human beings as is done in other
kingdoms. They believed that there was a future life where those
who had been brave and performed valiant feats would be rewarded;
while those who had done evil would be punished. But they did not
know how or where this would be. [160]
They buried their dead in their own houses, and kept their bodies
and bones for a long time in chests. They venerated the skulls of the
dead as if they were living and present. Their funeral rites did not
consist of pomp or assemblages, beyond those of their own house--where,
after bewailing the dead, all was changed into feasting and drunken
revelry among all the relatives and friends.
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