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Sect. XIII.] 



ETHNOLOGY. 



437 



ticuiar people, and an itCiU in the psychological history' of 

 mankind. It is probable that no human race is destitute 

 of some belief, more or less explicit or obscure, in the 



existence of supernatural powers, good and evil, and like 

 wise of a future and invisible state. 



But there are 



nations who scarcely recognise in the invisible bein^ 



» 



any 



thing like will or power to punish the guilty or reward 



the good, and who do not suppose the future state to be 

 a scene of retribution. This is the account which mis- 

 sionaries and other persons have given of the Polynesian 



superstitious. 



The adoration of rude nations is generally directed 

 towards visible objects. From this rem.ark we must 

 except most of the American nations, who are said to 

 believe in the existence of a spiritual ruler of the uni- 

 verse. By one class of rude nations the lieavenly bodies 

 are worshipped,. and the Polynesians connect this super- 



r 



stition with a mythology which is poetical and not devoid 

 of ingenuity. Others, like the African nations, worship 

 fetiches, or visible objects, in which they suppose some 

 magical or supernatural power to be concealed, capable 



of exercising an influence on their destiny and of ensuring 

 success in any undertaking— a superstition of which traces 



are to be discovered among the vulgar in many countries. 

 In every tribe of people among whom intelligent tra- 

 vellers may hereafter be thrown, it should be a subject of 

 inquiry how far any of these observations may be con- 

 firmed and extended by the history of their superstitious 

 belief and practices, and to what division of nations they 

 are by such traits associated. 



