AMONG SAVAGE RACES. 577 



religion. Captain Grant could find " no distinct form of reli- 

 gion" in some of the comparatively civilized tribes visited by 

 him.* According to Burchell, the Bachapins (Kaffirs) had 

 no form of worship or religion.*)* They thought " that every 

 thing made itself, and that trees and herbage grew by their 

 own will." They had no belief in a good deity, but some 

 vague idea of an evil being. Indeed, the first idea of a god is 

 almost always as an evil spirit. 



Speaking of the Foulahs of Wassoulo, in Central Africa, 

 Caillie states : " I tried to discover whether they had any reli- 

 gion of their own ; whether they worshipped fetishes, or the 

 sun, moon, or stars ; but I could never perceive any religious 

 ceremony amongst them."* Again, he says of the Bainbaras 

 that, "like the people of Wassoulo, they have no religion," 

 adding, however, that they have great faith in charms. 



Burton also states that some of the tribes in the Lake 

 districts of Central Africa " admit neither God, nor angel, nor 

 devil." 1 1 Speaking of Hottentots, Le Vaillant says :*T " Je n'y 

 ai vu aucune trace de religion, rien qui approche meme de 

 1'idee d'un etre vengeur et remunerateur. J'ai vecu assez 

 longtemps avec eux, chez eux aux sein de leurs deserts 

 paisibles ; j'ai fait, avec ces braves humains, des voyages dans 

 des regions fort eloignees ; nuile part je n'ai rencontre rien 

 qui ressemble a la religion." Livingstone mentions that on 

 one occasion, after talking to a Bushman for some time, as he 

 supposed, about the Deity, he found that the savage thought 

 he was speaking about Sekomi, the principal chief of the 

 district. 



Speaking of the Esquimaux, Eoss says : " Ervick, being the 



* A Walk across Africa, p. 145. 1. c. p. 375. 



t Travels in South Africa, vol. ii. || Trans. Ethn. Soc. New Ser. 



p. 550. vol. i. p. 323. 



Travels to Timbuctoo, vol. i. IT Voyages dans 1'Afritjue, vol. i. 



p. 303. p. 93. 



2 P 



