LOW IDEAS OF THE DEITY. 570 



Kaffirs," agrees* with Casalis, Arbousset, Vanderkemp, and 

 Moffat, that they have " scarcely any notion of a Deity, if any." 

 We have already observed a case of this kind in Kolben, 

 who, in spite of the assertions of the natives themselves, felt 

 quite sure that certain dances must be of a religious charac- 

 ter, "let the Hottentots say what they will." Again, Mr. 

 Matthews, who went out to act as a missionary among the 

 Fuegians, but was soon obliged to abandon the hopeless task, 

 observed only one act " which could be supposed devotional." 

 He sometimes, we are told, "heard a great howling or lamen- 

 tation about sunrise in the morning ; and upon asking Jemmy 

 Button what occasioned the outcry, he could obtain no satis- 

 factory answer; the boy only saying, 'People very sad, cry 

 very much." This appears so natural and sufficient an expla- 

 nation, that why the outcry should be " supposed devotional," 

 I must confess myself unable to see. Once more, Sir J. D. 

 Hooker states that the Khasias, an Indian tribe, had no reli- 

 gion. Col. Yule,^ on the contrary, says that they have ; but 

 he admits that breaking hens' eggs is " the principal part of 

 their religious practice." But if most travellers have expected 

 to find a religion everywhere, and have been convinced, almost 

 against their will, that the reverse is the case, it is quite 

 possible that there may have been others who have too hastily 

 denied the existence of a religion among the tribes they 

 visited. However this may be, those who assert that even 

 the lowest savages believe in a Supreme Deity, affirm that 

 which is entirely contrary to the evidence. The direct testi- 

 mony of travellers on this point is indirectly corroborated by 

 their other statements. How, for instance, can a people who 

 are unable to count their own fingers, possibly raise their 

 mind so far as to realize the difficult problems of religion ?| 



* Galloway, Religious System of the Amazulu, p. 124. 



t Yule, On the Khasia Hills and People, p. 18. 



See, for instance, Greg's Creed of Christendom, p. 212. 



