AMERICA, 235 



one takes a little of the earth, which they afterwards preserve with 

 the most religious care. The bodies ranged in order, are covered 

 with entire new lurs, and, over these, with bark, on which they throw 

 stones, wood and earth. Then taking the last farewell, they return 

 each to his own cabin. 



We have mentioned, that in this ceremony the savages offer, as pre- 

 sents to the dead, whatever they value most highly. This custom, 

 which is universal among them, arises from a rude notion of the im- 

 mortality of the soul. They believe this doctrine most firmly, and it 

 is the principal tenet of their religion. When the soul is separated 

 from the body of their friends, they conceive that it still continues to 

 hover around it, and to require, and take delight in, the same things 

 with which it formerly was pleased. After a certain time, however, 

 it forsakes this dreary mansion, and departs far westward into the 

 land of spirits. They have even gone so far as to make a distinction 

 between the inhabitants of the other world; some, they imagine, par- 

 ticularly those who in their life-time had been fortunate in war, pos- 

 sess a high degree of happiness, have a place for hunting and fishing, 

 which never fails ; and enjoy all sensual delights, without labouring 

 hard in order to procure them. The souls of those, on the contrary, 

 who happened to be conquered or slain in war, are extremely misera- 

 ble after death. 



Their taste for war, which forms the chief ingredient in their cha- 

 racter, gives a strong bias to their religion. Areskoui, or the god of 

 battle, is revered as the great god of the Indians. Him they invoke 

 before they go into the field ; and, according as his disposition is more 

 or less favourable to them, they conclude they shall be more or less 

 successful, Some nations worship the sun or moon ; among others 

 there are a number of traditions, relative to the creation of the world, 

 and the history of the gods ; traditions which resemble the Grecian 

 fables, but which are still more absurd and inconsistent. But religion 

 is not the prevailing character of the Indians ; and, except when they 

 have some immediate occasion for the assistance of their gods, they 

 pay them no sort of worship. Like all rude nations, however, they 

 are strongly addicted to superstition. They believe in the existence 

 of a number of good and bad genii, spirits who interfere in the affairs 

 of mortals, and produce all our happiness or misery. It is from the 

 evil genii, in particular, that our diseases proceed ; and it is to the good 

 genii we are indebted for a cure. The ministers of the genii are the jug- 

 glers, who are also the only physicians among the savages. These 

 jugglers are supposed to be inspired by the good genii, most com- 

 monly in their dreams, with the knowledge of future events ; they 

 are called in to the assistance of the sick, and are supposed to be in- 

 formed by the genii whether their patients will recover, and in what 

 manner they must be treated. But these spirits are extremely sim- 

 ple in their system of physic, and in almost every disease direct the 

 juggler to the same remedy. The patient is enclosed in a narrow 

 cabin, in the midst of which is a stone red hot; on this they throw 

 water, until he is well soaked with the warm vapour and his own 

 sweat. Then they hurry him from the bagnio, and plunge him sud- 

 denly into the next river. This coarse method, which costs many 

 their lives, often performs very extraordinary cures. The jugglers 

 have likewise the use of some specifics, of wonderful efficacy : and 

 all the savages are dexterous in curing wounds by the application of 



