[How the Indians treat their sick] / [The sacrifice of the first born].

Two engravings. [385] They lay the sick person down upon a wooden bench. Then they cut the skin of his forehead with a sharp shell and sucked out the blood with their own mouths, spitting it out into an earthenware jar. Pregnant women then drink the blood, believing it will make their milk better and their children healthier, especially if it came from a strong warrior. Others, who were laid face down, inhaled smoke from a fire of hot coals upon which seeds were thrown. It was believed this purged their bodies of poisons. They also had a plant, which the Brazilians call petum and the Spanish tobacco. After drying its leaves, they were put in the bowl of a pipe and lit. Then they sucked the other end so the smoke came out through their noses and mouths. By this means they often cure infection. (This is the first ever illustration of actually smoking tobacco!).

[399] When the sacrifice was about to take place, the chief of the tribe would take the seat at the front of which is a short tree stump. In front of the stump was the mother, whose first-born was about to be sacrificed, squatting with her face in her hands, weeping. All the other women danced joyfully round her in a circle.
One of the mother’s friends held up the baby boy, offering him in sacrifice to the chief, before placing him on the tree-stump. Nearby, six Indians stood surrounding the executioner, whose skin was elaborately decorated from head to toe.
When the women stopped dancing, the executioner advanced towards the baby-boy and clubbed him to death. Jacques le Moyne saw this ritual performed once while he was there.

In 1631 Johann Ludwig Gottfried, inherited the Theodor De Bry’s publishing firm, among the illustrated accounts of the expeditions of Magellan, Columbus, Vespucci, Cortes, Balboa, Raleigh, Drake, Smith, and many others.
Gottfried issued together with Matthaeus Merian a one-volume condensation "Newe Welt Vnd Americanische Historien/ Jnhaltende Warhafftige vnd volkommene Beschreibungen Aller West-Jndianischen Landschafften..." that used many of the original copper plates and supplemented them with new ones of more recent voyages. The book was published by Matthaeus Merian. The work was reprinted in 1655 / 1657.

More about Johann Ludwig Gottfried.[+]

Reference: www.history-engraved.org/ FL / GA / SC 385-399