Histoire Naturelle des Indes
110 of 122
Accession number: MA 3900
Credit: The Morgan Library & Museum. Bequest of Clara S. Peck, 1983.
Title: Histoire Naturelle des Indes [supplied on an 18th century title page]
Contents: 199 images of West Indian plants, animals and human life, with accompanying manuscript captions written in late sixteenth-century French.
Medium: Most of the illustrations consist of a black chalk underdrawing and a combination of pen and brown ink with watercolor; on some images selected areas have also been glazed with a gum.
Dimensions: Binding: 30 x 21 cm; individual leaves: 29.3 x 19.7 cm.
Binding: Bound or rebound in brown leather in the late 18th century.
Pagination: Penciled folio numbers (1–125) in lower right corner of each page were added by The Morgan Library & Museum. Folios 92v–93, 93v–94, and 95v–96 are fold-out leaves.
Histoire Naturelle des Indes
Come Les Yndiens Procedent A Leurs Alliances Et Mariages-Les Vngs Auec Les Autres (How the Indians Make Their Alliances and Marriages With Each Other)
The "Le goric," meaning young man, goes to the "bouie" where the house of the father and "La goricque," the daughter whom he loves, are, taking all his equipment, namely his canoe or boat, bow, arrows, "chichorne," or fish-nets. Making his reverence to the father and the daughter, he says "Hai Hai," which means how are you? After having done that, he leaves his whole equipment and utensils in the house and goes away to sleep in a hammock or bed and to rest until the next morning. At daybreak he picks up his bow and arrows to hunt in the wood and having found his prey, takes it to the house, giving it to his beloved or sweetheart to please her and make her cook it. He does not drink or eat in the house before having brought meat and venison in abundance, and he brings as much as possible to show that he works hard to provide well for himself, his wife and family.
Histoire Naturelle des Indes
Illustrated manuscript, ca. 1586
Bequest of Clara S. Peck, 1983; MA 3900 (fol. 112v–113)
