shares, and allowed them to till their fields in their own fashion.
This province abounds in woods and forests, in which horrible sights may occasionally be witnessed; for in them there dwell a considerable number of idolators, who cherish, as a kind of household gods, a species of reptile, which has four short feet like a lizard, with a black fat body, not exceeding three palms in length. These animals are called "givoites",[1] and on certain days are allowed to crawl about the house in search of the food which is placed for them. They are looked upon with great superstition by the whole family, until the time when, having satisfied their hunger, they return to their own place. But if any accident should occur to them, they believe that their household god, the reptile, has been ill-received and ill-fed. On my return from my first journey to Moscow, I came to Troki, and was informed by the landlord of the house at which I happened to put up, that he had in that same year purchased some bee-hives of one of these reptile-worshippers, and had by his reasoning won him over to the true faith of Christ, and persuaded him to kill the reptile which he worshipped: but some time after when he returned to look at his bees, he found the man with his face deformed, and with his mouth drawn in a hideous manner up to his ears. On inquiring the cause of so fearful a disaster, he replied, that he was punished with this calamity by way of expiation and penance for having laid guilty hands upon the reptile his god, and that he should have to suffer many more grievous penalties, unless he returned to his former mode of worship. Although this did not take place in Samogithia, but in Lithuania, I have quoted it as a specimen of their customs.
They say that there is no better or finer honey found than in Samogithia; that it is white, and has but little wax with it.
- ↑ This seems to be a species of scincus, or rather perhaps gecko.
