Hannah Adams

“ The divinities of the ancient inhabitants of Mexico were clothed with terrour, and delighted in vengeance. The figures of serpents, of tigers, and of other destructive animals, decorated their temples. Fasts, mortifications, and penances, all rigid, and many of them excruciating to an extreme degree, were the means which they employed to appease the wrath of the gods. But of all offerings, human sacrifices were deemed the most acceptable. [9] At the dedication of the great temple at Mexico, it is reported there were 60 or 70.000 human sacrifices. ”

“ The natives of Amazonia, have a vast variety of idols, whom they consider as subordinate to one supreme Being; but of that Being they have very confused notions. They stand in great awe of their priests, and hold them in the utmost veneration. They have a particular house, or rather hut, for the celebration of their ceremonies, and this is to them what others call a church or temple. Here the priests address themselves to their gods, and receive answers from their oracles. ”

“ The savage tribes of Guiana believe the existence of one supreme Deity, whose chief attribute is benevolence; and to him they ascribe every good which happens. But as it is against his nature to do ill, they believe in subordinate malevolent beings, like our devil, who occasion thunders, hurricanes, and earthquakes ”

“ The immortality of the soul was in some sort univerally believed among them. When good men die, they said, their spirits go to Kichtan, where they meet their friends, and enjoy all manner of pleasures. ”

“ These spirits are, by the Natches, termed free servants, or agents; but at the same time they are as submissive as slaves: they are constantly in the presence of God, and prompt to execute his will. The air, according to them, is full of other spirits of more mischievous dispositions, and these have a chief, who was so eminently mischievous, that God Almighty was obliged to confine him; and ever since, those aerial spirits do not commit so much mischief as they did before, especially if they are entreated to be favourable. ”

“ The gods of the Indians are supposed to have bodies, and to live much in the same manner as themselves , but without any of the inconveniences to which they are subject. The word spirit, among them, signifies only a being of a more excellent nature than others. ”

“ When they go to war, they apply to their priests for assistance against their enemies, and the first thing the priests do, is to curse them. Upon their going out to war they hoist at the prow of their canoes that idol, under whose auspices they look for victory; hut, like too many called christians, they never pray to their gods, except in cases of difficulty, when they feel their need of divine assistance or support. ”

“ It is a notion pretty generally prevailing among them, that it was not the same God that made them who made us; but that, they were created after the white people; and it is probable, they suppose their God gained some special skill by seeing the white people made, and so made them better. With regard to a future state of existence, many of them imagine, that the chichung, i. e. the shadow, or what survives the body, will at death go southward, to some unknown place, and enjoy some kind of happiness-—such as hunting, feasting, dancing, or the like ”

“ They believe that most will be happy; and that those who are not so, will be punished only with privation, being excluded from the walls of the good world, where happy spirits reside. These rewards and punishments they suppose to depend entirely on their behaviour towards mankind, and to have no reference to any thing which relates to the worship of the Supreme Being. ”

“ The Agreskoui of the Hurons, and the Agreskouse of the Iroquois, are, in the opinion of these nations, the sovereign being, and god of war. These Indians do not give the same original to mankind with the Algonquins; for they do not ascend so high as the first creation. ”

“ Notwithstanding the vast depopulation of America, a very considerable number of the native race still remains both in Mexico and Peru. Their settlements in some places are so populous, as to merit the name of cities. In the three audiences into which New Spain is divided, there are at least two millions of Indians ”

“ The Apalachians, bordering on Florida, worship the sun, but sacrifice nothing to him which has life: they hold him to be the parent of life, and think he can take no pleasure in the destruction of any living creature. ”

“ For this reason the savages always invoke them, when they want either rain or fair weather. They give this account of the creation of the world, viz. that God first formed a little man of clay, and breathed on his work ; and that he walked about, grew up, and became a perfect man: but they are silent as to the creation of women. ”