l"jz The Hiftory of Book II. 



fo much aftonifh'd when they meet with any thing whereof the 

 caufe is unknown to them, and that they mould be brought up 

 in fo great fimplicity, that it might be taken in moft of thefe 

 poor people for a brutifh ftupidity. 



This fimplicity is remarkable, among other things, in the 

 extraordinary fear they conceive at the fight of Firearms,which 

 they look on with a ftrange admiration 3 but their aftonifli- 

 mentis greateft at Fire-locks,much beyond what they have for 

 great Guns and Muskets, becaufe they fee Fire put to them 5 

 but for Fire-locks, they are not able to conceive how it is po£ 

 fiblethey mould take Fire 3 andrfo~they believe it is the evil 

 Spirit Mahoj/a who does thafrOffice : But this fear and aftoniih- 

 ment is common to them with divers other Savages, who have 

 not found any thing fo ftrange in their encounters with the 

 Europeans, as thofe Arms which fpit Fire, and at fo great a di- 

 GarcUaffo's ftance wound and kill thofe whom they meet with : This was 

 Commentary ^ toget h e r with the Prodigy of feeing Men fighting on Horfe- 

 VesUa 'es back, which principally made the Peruvians think the Spaniards 

 Travels into to De Gods, and occafiohed their fubmiffion to f hem with lels 

 the Levant, refiftance. It is reported alfo that the Arabians ^ who make 

 Incurfions along the River Jordan^ and mould be more accu- 

 ftomed to War, are not free from this fear and aftoniftiment. 



Among the feveral difcoveries of the fimplicity of our 

 ribbians, we {hall here let down two very confiderable ones. 

 When there happens an Eclipfc of the Moon, they believe that 

 Maboya eats her, and they dance all night, making a noifo with 

 Gourds, wherein there are many (mall Pebbles.* And when 

 they fmell any thing of ill fcent, they are wojit to fay, Maboya 

 cayeu e», that is. The Devil is here 3 Caima T^fHry, Let us be gone 

 becaufe of him , or for fear of him : Nay they attribute the 

 name of Maboya, or Devil, to certain Plants of ill lcent, fuch 

 as may be Mulhrooms, and to whatever is apt to put them into 

 any fright. 



Some years fince, the greateft part of the Caribbians were 

 perfwaded that Gun-powder was the Seed of fome Herb 3 nay 3 

 there were thofe who defir'd fome of it to fow in their Gar- 

 dens^ nay, fome were fo obftinate, that, though diffwaded 

 from it, they put it into the ground, out of a perfwafion that it 

 would bring forth fomwhat, as well as other Seeds.* Yet was 

 not this Imagination fo grofs as thofe of certain Brutes of 

 Gninny, who, the firft time they faw Europeans, thought the 

 Commodities they brought them, fuch as Linnen, Cloathes, 

 Knives, and Fire-arms, grew on the Earth fo prepared, as the 

 Fruits did on Trees, and that there was no more to be done 

 than to gather them .* That certainly is not fo pardonable a 

 piece of fimplicity as that of the Caribbians : And we may fur- 

 GarcilaJJb 3 tne r alledg, to excufe that fimplicity, or at leaft to render it the 

 /.?. c.i6. more fupportable, the ftupidity of thofe Inhabitants of Ameri- 

 ca, 



