372 PRIMITIVE AFRICAN FAITH. CHAP. XIII. 



one Almighty Maker of heaven and earth ; that he has 

 given the various plants of earth to man to be employed 

 as mediators between him and the spirit world, where all 

 who have ever been born and died continue to live ; that 

 sin consists in offences against their fellow-men, either 

 here or among the departed, and that death is often a 

 punishment of guilt, such as witchcraft. Their idea of 

 moral evil differs in no respect from ours, but they con- 

 sider themselves amenable only to inferior beings, not to 

 the Supreme. Evil-speaking — lying — hatred — disobedi- 

 ence to parents — neglect of them — are said by the intelli- 

 gent to have been all known to be sin, as well as theft, 

 murder, or adultery, before they knew aught of Europeans 

 or their teaching. The only new addition to their moral 

 code is, that it is wrong to have more wives than one. 

 This, until the arrival of Europeans, never entered into 

 their minds even as a doubt. 



Everything not to be accounted for by common causes, 

 whether of good or evil, is ascribed to the Deity. Men are 

 inseparably connected with the spirits of the departed, 

 and when one dies he is believed to have joined the hosts 

 of his ancestors. All the Africans we have met with are 

 as firmly persuaded of their future existence as of their 

 present life. And we have found none in whom the 

 belief in the Supreme Being was not rooted. He is so in- 

 variably referred to as the Author of everything super- 

 natural, that, unless one is ignorant of their language, he 

 cannot fail to notice this prominent feature of their faith. 

 When they pass into the unseen world, they do not seem 

 to be possessed with the fear of punishment. The 

 utensils placed upon the grave are all broken as if to indi- 

 cate that they will never be used by the departed again. 

 The body is put into the grave in a sitting posture, and 

 the hands are folded in front. In some parts of the 

 country there are tales which we could translate into faint 



