1. Jo. de Laet rican. p. Voyage du Hurons, c. 18. nada, 1. i. But I must do that right to Joh. de Laet, as to shew, CHAP. that, after he had received better information, he did speak more favourably of the religion of the Indians: de Origin. for in his book against Grotius, ten years after the Gent. Ameother, he hath an observation on purpose to clear this 187. matter. Father Sagard had published an account of Le Grand his voyage to the Hurons, a people of New France or Pays des Canada, near the lake called Mare Dulce, where he learnt their language, and so was better able to judge of their opinions; and he saith, their general sense was, that there was one Creator, who made the world; and that in their language he was called Ataouacan. Which is since confirmed by the account of the French missions into those parts; especially of Paulus Juve- Hist. Canæus, who spent a winter among them, to converse p. 78. with them in their own language. And when he preached to them about God, they all asked him what he meant by it. He told them, he meant such a Being who had infinite power, and made heaven and earth. Upon which they looked upon one another, and cried out, Ataouacan. Sagard saith, They believe the im- P. 87. mortality of the soul; and the later accounts say, That he was told that the Souriquosii did truly believe one God, that created all things. Which is very different from de Laet's former account of them. But de Laet goes on, that he understood by Davis and Baffin, that the natives of those parts where they had been (i. e. about Fretum Davis and Groen-land) were idolaters, and worshipped the sun. Davis, in the account of Hackluit, his voyage, saith, That they were a very tractable p. 100. people, void of craft or double dealings, and easy to be brought to any civility or good order; but they judged them to be idolaters, and to worship the sun. This is quite another thing from being mere savages, and having no religion among them. Further, he owns tom. iii. Virginia, BOOK Hariot's account of the people of Virginia, that they 1. believed many gods of different degrees, but one supreme God, who was from eternity. But he had published to the world in his description, That their only religion was to worship every thing they were afraid of; as fire, water, thunder, guns, horses, &c. and the Hariot of Devil, whom they called Okie. Hariot, who conversed among them, saith no such thing; but he saith expressly, That they owned that God made the world, and that souls are immortal; and that they shall receive in another world according to their actions in this. What a different account is this concerning the same people! Lederer's And if Lederer may be believed, who went among the Discovery, Indian natives not far from Virginia, he saith, Okæe part iii. P. 4. was the name of the Creator of all things among them; to him the high priest alone offers sacrifice: but their ordinary devotion is performed to lesser deities, to whom they suppose sublunary affairs are comDenton of mitted. Denton, who lived among the Indian savages about New York, saith, That their solemn worship was not above once or twice a year, unless ordinary occasions, as making war, &c. New York, p. 8. gravius de upon extra I shall not need to pursue this matter any further, since he owns the religion that was practised not only in Peru and Mexico, but in other parts of the West Indies. Only as to Chili he saith, That we have no certainty, but only that they have solemn oaths by one G. Marc- they call Enonamon. But Marcgravius, in the account Regione he gives of Chili, saith at first, That they know not God, Chili, C.3. nor his worship, &c. But this must be understood of a clear and distinct knowledge of him; for he saith afterwards, That they have some knowledge of a supreme Being, by whom all earthly things and human affairs are governed; whom they call Pillan. apud Elzev. The only difficulty then remaining as to the West I. Indies, is as to the people of Paraquaria and Brazil; CHAP. for it is affirmed, That there are whole nations there, who know nothing of God or religion. Which must be more strictly inquired into. Paraquar. Techo, 1673. As to Paraquaria, it is said, that Nicholas del Techo, in his letters from thence, saith, that the Caiguæ (a people of that country) had no name for God, or the soul of man; and no public worship, nor idols. But the same Nicholas del Techo hath published a full re- Hist. Prov. lation of all the proceedings in Paraquaria, and there-Auth. Niabouts, on the account of religion; and therein he hath colo del acquainted the world with the several nations that in- Leodii habit those parts between Brazil and Peru, &c. which were scarce heard of before. The Diaigrita, (who rather belong to Tucumania, between Paraquaria and Chili,) he saith, were worshippers of the sun, after a L. ii. c. 18. particular manner; and they believed the immortality of souls, and that the souls of their great men went into the greater stars, and of ordinary people into the lesser. The Guaicurai worshipped the moon and L. iv. c. 16. Bootes. The Guarani were a very superstitious peo- L. v. c. 7. ple, but they could not tell what god they worshipped; but they were mightily addicted to sorcery. The Cal-Cap. 23. chaquini worshipped the sun, and thunder, and lightning. In the plains between Rio del Plata and Tucumania, he saith, are a very large people, who have L. iii. c. 12. little regard to religion; but they believe that, after death, their souls return to their Creator. In Chili, he saith, when one God the Creator was preached to L. ii. c. 26. them, one of their casiques (or great men) stood up and said, that they would not bear that the power of creating should belong to any but their god Pillan ; and that he placed the souls of their great men, after death, about the sun. After all these he mentions the L. ix. c. 24. Caiguæ, as the smallest, and most inconsiderable, and BOOK brutish people among them. They were a most savage I. sort of creatures, that could hardly speak so as to be Hist. Navi. in Brasil, c. 15, p. Laet de understood. He saith, They were much more like to apes than men, and lived upon mice, and ants, and vipers, &c. Utrique sexui, saith he, tenuissimus rationis usus est: they are harder to be tamed than wild beasts and if they are put in chains, they starve themselves. And this is all the account he there gives of them, and saith not a word of their religion; and it were very unreasonable to expect any from them. It is not improbable that others could not find a word for God or the soul among them; for they were not able to speak sense, at least so as to be understood by strangers. Come we now to the people of Brazil, who are said to be without any notion of God. But those who have 223, 224. been best acquainted among them assure us, that they believe the immortality of souls, and rewards and punishments after death. And from hence Lerius himself argues against the atheistical persons of his time; and that although they will not in words own God, yet he saith they shew the inward conviction they have of him, especially when it thunders; which de Laet confesses they call Tupá cunanga, a noise made by the supreme Excellence; for Tupá, he saith, signifies so much in their language. And he adds, That they are very apprehensive of evil spirits; that they do own a god of the mountains and of the highways; and although they differ in their idolatry and superstition, yet, he confesses, it generally prevails among them, and the other innumerable people who live on both Marcgrav. sides the vast river de la Plata. Marcgravius, a learned man, who lived in Brazil, and understood their language so far as to write a grammar of it, saith expressly, That they call God Tupa and Tupana; and in de Brasil. Reg. c. 9. I. Hist. Æthi lation d'un par. i. c. 8. the short Dictionary of Emmanuel Moraes, Tupana is CHAP. rendered Deus. But the great argument to Lerius was, that they had no public exercise of religion ; which was the common case of the savages in all parts, who lived under no laws; not that they believed no God, but they would not be at the trouble to serve him. Ludolphus saith of the Gallani, a savage people who Ludolph. had almost overrun Abyssinia, that they had no public opiæ, 1. i. worship; but if any asked them about a supreme God, they would answer, Heaven. So Dellon saith of the Dellon Reinhabitants of Madagascar, That they did not question Voyage, a supreme Being that governs all; but with a strange obstinacy denied that there was any necessity of praying to him. Francis Cauche, who sojourned a long Relation du time among them, saith, he could observe no public F. Cauche, exercise of religion among them; but they did not Paris, 1551. deny a God to be the Creator of all, and asserted the immortality of the soul, but good and bad went to heaven. Flacurt lived five years among them, and he agrees in the same, as to no public exercise of religion: Histoire de but he saith, they believe one God, of whom they speak dagascar, with honour and respect. P. Gillet, in the account of ch.17, his voyage to Goyane 1674, saith, that the Nouragues, Voyage and Acoquas, and Galibis, all agree in owning one Goyane, God in heaven; but they give no worship to him. Voyage de p. 119. l'Isle deMa Journal du dans la p. 81. l'Ethiope p. 1639. Joh. dos Santos saith of some of the Caffres, (with Histoire de whom he conversed,) That they are the most brutish Orientale, and barbarous people in the world; but they hold the Purchas, immortality of the soul, and have a confused knowledge tom. ii. that there is a great God from a natural instinct: but they pray not to him. But for those Caffres at the Cape of Good Hope, they may vie with any for brutishness; but by the last accounts given of them, by those who lived among them, and published by F. Tachard, Voyage de we find that they do worship one God, although they p. 84. Siam, 1. ii. |