X34-                          The Hiftory of       B o o k II.
governed. All immoveable goods are common among thefe
people, and excepting only their houfes, and the little gardens
belonging to them, they have no propriety in anything: they
carry on the bufinefs of Agriculture in common,and they fhare
the fruits of the earth among themfelves : At fowing-time the
Governors and their Officers overfee the work ; and at that
time all thofe who are of age to do any thing abroad, go out be-
times in the morning to their work, and continue there till
the evening, at which time they return to their Towns and
Villages to take their reft : While they are at work, it is the
bufinefs of their Chiefs to provide them fomewhat extraordi-
nary in meat and drink .• They difoofe their Harveft into the
publick Granaries, which are in the midft of their Towns and
Villages ; and at every full Moon, and at every flew Moon,
thofe who are entrufted with the diflribution thereof, fupply
every Family, according to the number of perfons whereof it
confifts, with as much as will fuffice.
They are a temperate people,and hate all kind of voluptu-
oufnefs, and whatever tends to effeminacy : And though Vines
grow naturally in their Country, yet do they not make any
wine but what is requifite for the divine fervice: Fair water
is their ordinary drink, but at great entertainments, they make
ufe of a pleafant kind of Beer, which is made of Turkey wheat:
They alfo have the art of making an excellent kind of Hydro-
mel, or Mead, which they keep in great earthen veflels : The
great abundance of honey which they find among the Rocks,
and in the clefts of hollow trees, fupplies them with that
whereof they make that delicious drink, which is fuch as may
well pafs for Sack, efpecially after it hath been kept a long
time.
Thofe of the fame Family live fo lovingly together, that
there are among them fome houfes where an old man hath his
children, and his children's children, to the third, nay fome-
times to the fourth generation, all living under the fame roof"
to the number of a hundred perfons, and fometimes more.
Moft of the other Nations of the Septentrional part of Ame-
rica who inhabit along the Sea-coaft, are fo flothful, that in
the winter time they are in great want, becaufe they had not
fown any thing when the time ferved, or had confumed the
fruits of the precedent harveft in extraordinary entertain-
ments and debauches : But the Apalachites hate nothing fo much
asidlenefs, and they are foaddided to pains-taking, that the
fruits of the earth, being anfwerable to their labour, and be-
ing distributed with prudence and moderation, maintain them
tj^uuUys"ayfothattheycan>inCafeofneceflity, affift their
Neighbours the Inhabitants of the Mountains : Both men and
women are perpetually employ'd, after feed-time and harveft,
infpinning of Cotton, Wooll, and a certain Herb, which is foft
and