354 HISTORY OF [BOOK n. 



towns, were recommended as measures of indispen- 

 sibie necessity. 



That these observations are altogether ill founded, 

 I will not presume to affirm. Man, in his savage 

 state, in all parts of the world, is the slave of super- 

 stition ; and it is the duty and policy of a good go- 

 vernment (let its system of religion be what it may) 

 to direct the weaknesses cf our fellow creatures to the 

 promotion of their happiness. The Christian is not 

 only the best system of religion calculated for the at- 

 tainment of that end, but, by leading the mind to the 

 knowledge of truth and immortality, contributes 

 more than any other to amend the heart, and exalt the 

 human character. 



Of this high and important truth I hope that I am 

 fully sensible : Yet I cannot suppress the opinion 

 which I have long since entertained, that the con- 

 version of savage men, from a life of barbarity to the 

 knowledge and practice of Christianity, is a work of 

 much greater difficulty than many pious and excellent 

 persons in Great Britain seem fondly to imagine. 



Concerning the Maroons, they are in general ig- 

 norant of our language, and ail of them attached to 

 the gloomy superstitions of Africa (derived from their 

 ancestors) with such enthusiastic zeal and reverential 

 ardour, as I think can only be eradicated v\ ith their 

 lives. The Gentoos of India are not, I conceive, 

 more sincere in their faith, than the negroes of Gui- 



