Travels in North America. Ia^qi 



World. They fay there were fix Men in the World at firfl ; and 

 when we alk them v/ho placed them there, thèy anfwer, that 

 they know not. They add, that one of thefe Men went up into 

 Heaven, to feek a Woman there named Afahentjîc, with whom he 

 lived, and who foon appeared to be with Child ; that the Lord 

 of Heaven perceiving it, threw her down from the highefb Part 

 of Heaven, and fhe was received on the Back of a Tor- 

 toife. That fhe brought forth two Children, one of which 

 killed the other. 



They have no Tradition after this, either of the other live Men, 

 or even of the Hufband of Atahentficy who according to fome 

 had but one Daughter, who was Mother of Thaouitfarony and of 

 Joufkeka, The latter who was the Eldeft killed his Brother, and 

 foon after his Grandmother left the Care of governing the World 

 to him. They fay farther, that Atahentjic is the Moon, and 

 Joufkeka is the Sun. There is, as you fee, Madam, nothing re- 

 gular in all this ; for the Sun is often taken for Arejkoui, as be- 

 ing a great Spirit : But is there lefs Contradi6lion in the Theo- 

 logy of the Egyptians and the Greeks, who are the firft Sages of 

 the Pagan Antiquity ? It is the Nature of Falfehood to contradidl 

 itfelf, and to have no Principle. 



The Gods of the Savages have, according to their Notion, 



Their Notion of ^^^^ much in the fame Manner as 



Stirits^ ^ without any of the Inconvenien- 



^^^^ ^* cies which we are fubjeft to. The Term iS]^/- 



r/Vfignifies among them only a Being of a more excellent Nature 

 than the reft. They have no Term.s to exprefs what exceeds the 

 Limits of their Underftanding, which is extremely confined in 

 every Thing that is not the Objeél of their Senfes, or in com- 

 mon Ufe : But they give neverthelefs to their pretended Spirits 

 a Kind of Immenfity, which renders them prefent in all Places ; 

 for wherever they happen to be, they invoke them, they fpeak to 

 them, and they fuppofe that the Spirits hear what they fay to 

 them,, and that they ad in Confequence thereof. To all the Quel- 

 tions we afk thefe Barbarians, to know more, they anfwer this is 

 all they have been taught ; and it is only fome old Men who 

 have been initiated in their Myfteries who know fo much. 



According to the Iroquois, the Pofterity of Joufkeka went no 

 farther than the third Generation ; there came then a Deluge, 

 from which no Perfon efcaped, and to re-people the Earth Beafts 

 were changed to Men. For the reft, Madam, the Notion 

 of a univerfal Deluge is generally received among the Ame* 

 ricans but one can fear ce doubt ; but that there has been one of a 

 much frefher Date, which was confined to America. I ftiould ne- 

 ver make an End, was I to mention all the Stories the Savages 

 tell about their principal Deities, and the Origin of the World : 

 K k But 



