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B II A S I L. 



Brasil. 

 -v . 

 Religion. 



It has been currently asserted by travellers, that 

 the Brasilians, differing from the most barbarous peo- 

 ple, are wholly destitute of religious ideas. They 

 are said to have no idea of a Divinity, no tradition 

 respecting the origin of the human race, and no ex- 

 pectation of a future state of rewards and punish- 

 ments. These assertions, however, are positively 

 contradicted by the very travellers who make them, 

 in other parts of their narrative. The Brasilians had, 

 indeed, no temples, no sacrifices ; none of that pa- 

 geantry with which religious belief is usually accom- 

 panied among civilized nations. Neither had they 

 ideas of the Deity, or of a future state, exactly corres- 

 ponding to ours. Hence, to a superficial eye, they 

 might appear destitute altogether of principles so 

 deeply rooted in the human mind. But on a closer 

 examination, it soon appears, that they were fully im- 

 pressed with the belief of powers and beings superior 

 to man, and with that of a certain mode of exist- 

 ence beyond the grave. Their notions on these sub- 

 jects were, doubtless, extremely rude and uncouth ; 

 but on this ground, the mott civilized nations, unen- 

 lightened by revelation, could have little room to re- 

 proach them. The first objects which excite in un- 

 tutored minds the idea of a superior power, are the 

 great and active phenomena of nature, particularly 

 those which move in the higher regions of visible 

 space. Thunder, whose effects are everywhere stri- 

 king, and peculiarly so in a warm climate, had at- 

 tracted, iii a remarkable degree, the adoration of the 

 Brasilians. They had endowed it with mind, and 

 viewed it, not only like other nations, 3s a formidable, 

 but also as a beneficent power. To it they consider- 

 ed themselves as indebted for whatever they knew of 

 the science of agriculture. The sun and moon, al- 

 most universal objects of idolatrous worship, had also 

 attracted their attention. At certain periods, they 

 raised their hands to them in a suppliant manner, 

 with gestures and cries expressive of the profoundest 

 veneration. They had conjured up to themselves a 

 race of evil beings, called Aignans, by whom they 

 often fancied themselves to b beaten and scourged 

 with the.utmost severity. They entertained also notions 

 of a future state. Some they believed were trans- 

 ported after death into plains of inexpressible beauty, 

 where they spent their time in dancing, and were la- 

 vishly supplied with every means of enjoyment. The 

 same traveller (Lery), who so inconsistently repre- 

 sents them as entirely devoid of religious ideas, men- 

 tions elsewhere his having heard one of their songs, in 

 which, after lamenting the death of their ancestors, 

 they console themselves with the hope of a future 

 and joyful meeting beyond the lofty mountains. 

 Others, on the contrary, are shut up in gloomy abodes, 

 where the Aignans torment them without intermis- 

 sion. They were not even entirely destitute of a priest, 

 hood ; some offices of which were performed by their 

 jugglers or conjurers, who are supposed to possess 

 powers more than human, and to hold intercourse 

 with invisible beings. At their dances, which, at 

 the same time that they afforded one of their highest 

 enjoyments, were considered as religious ceremonies, 

 several of these jugglers always presided. During 

 the intervals of dancing, the conjurer carried about 

 wooden poles stuck round with fruits, and having a 



hollow filled with tobacco, which he set fire to, and 

 breathed upon all present, pretending that through 

 this medium the spirit infused force and vigour into 

 them. Ridiculous as was this custom, it still seems 

 to intimate a belief, not only of a superior, but of an 

 immaterial being, with whom these uncouth ministers 

 held intercourse. Besides presiding at these ceremo- 

 nies, the conjurers were also believed to have the 

 power of foreseeing, and even of producing future 

 events : in cases ot disease, their aid was particularly 

 sought. These supernatural powers, which they 

 were believed to possess, made them be courted and 

 caressed by all who laboured under any distress ; 

 but when the event did not correspond with the ex- 

 pectation of their votary, the failure was attributed 

 to the conjurer, and he suffered often severe ven- 

 geance from his disappointed dupe. 



Besides being without religion, they are represent- Polit 

 ed also as having been without government ; and this cond' 

 last allegation seems to have rested on a better foun- 

 dation than the other. No nation seems ever to have 

 subsisted in a more perfect state of equality, or with 

 fewer outward marks of subordination. They had 

 chiefs ; but the small degree of obedience which they 

 paid seems to have been so entirely voluntary, as 

 hardly to imply any degree of subjection. To se- 

 cure success in their warlike enterprizes, a leader was 

 indispensable ; and the bravest and wisest was natu- 

 rally selected for that high office. As their expedi- 

 tions were carried on rather by skill and stratagem 

 than by open force, prudence and judgment were im- 

 portant qualities ; and in a society where there was no 

 other mode of acquiring information except by expe- 

 rience, age necessarily involved a superiority j hence 

 their old men were the chief objects of their respect. 

 A peculiar reverence was paid to those who had dis- 

 tinguished themselves in war, by the number of men 

 whom they had slain, or of the captives whom they had 

 taken. These old men supported their influence by 

 the arts of oratory, which made a powerful impres- 

 sion on savage minds. Their speeches were chiefly 

 animating them to valour, and to revenge the death 

 of their countrymen. They were particularly elo- 

 quent on their march to the scene of action, when 

 the party often stopt for'whole hours to listen to these 

 rude harangues. With war, the slender portion of 

 authority which its exigencies had conferred, entire- 

 ly ceased ; and every one lived in his cottage, in a 

 state of entire independence. 



It thus appears, that war was the tie which united War. 

 them in the bonds of political society : it was also their 

 grand and favourite occupation ; the object for which 

 they existed. The inhabitants of Brasil were divided 

 into a number of small communities, inflamed with 

 the most deadly hatred against each other ; the most 

 ardent wish of each being the utter extermination 

 of its immediate neighbour. The object of these 

 wars, however, was not to extend their territories, 

 which were already wide beyond their power to 

 occupy ; neither did the miserable plunder which a 

 savage village afforded, enter at all into their cal- 

 culation. It was pure and deadly hatred ; it was 

 the raging thirst of vengeance, which nothing could 

 appease, but the torture and destruction of its devo- 

 ted objects. ' Enmities were propagated in an inter- 



Brasi 



