At the end of this notable religious dance, the old beloved, or holy women[38] return home to hasten the feast of the new sanctified fruits. In the mean while, every one at the temple drinks very plentifully of the Cusseena and other bitter liquids, to cleanse their sinful bodies; after which, they go to some convenient deep water, and there, according to the ceremonial law of the Hebrews, they wash away their sins with water. Thus sanctified, they return with joyful hearts in solemn procession, singing their notes of praise, till they enter into the holy ground to eat of the new delicious fruits of wild Canaan[XXIII]. The women now with the utmost cheerfulness, bring to {98} the outside of the sacred square, a plentiful variety of all those good things, with which the divine fire has blessed them in the new year; and the religious attendants lay it before them, according to their stated order and reputed merit. Every seat is served in a gradual succession, from the white and red imperial long broad seats, and the whole square is soon covered: frequently they have a change of courses of fifty or sixty different sorts, and thus they continue to regale themselves, till the end of the festival; for they reckon they are now to feast themselves with joy and gladness, as the divine fire is appeased for past crimes, and has propitiously sanctified their weighty harvest. They all behave so modestly, and are possessed of such an extraordinary constancy and equanimity, in the pursuit of their religious mysteries, that they do not shew the least outward emotion of pleasure, at the first sight of the sanctified new fruits; nor the least uneasiness to be tasting those tempting delicious fat things of Canaan. If one of them acted in a contrary manner, they would say to him, _Che-Hakset Kaneha_, “You resemble such as were beat in Canaan.” This unconcern, doubtless proceeded originally from a virtuous principle; but now, it may be the mere effect of habit: for, jealousy and revenge excepted, they seem to be divested of every mental passion, and entirely incapable of any lasting affection. Footnote XXIII: They are so strictly prohibited from eating salt, or flesh-meat, till the fourth day, that during the interval, the very touch of either is accounted a great pollution: after that period, they are deemed lawful to be eaten. All the hunters, and able-bodied men, kill and barbecue wild game in the woods, at least ten days before this great festival, and religiously keep it for that sacred use.