The Htjiory of Book 11, 



Religion among them, and what bears a grofs reprefentation 

 thereof. 



They have a natural fentiment of fome Divinity, or fomeiii- 

 perior and obliging power, which hath its refidence in the Hea- 

 vens; They fay, "That the faid power is content quietly to 

 cc enjoy the delights of its own felicity, without being offended 

 " at the ill a&ionsof men, and that it is endued with lb great 

 cc goodnefs, that it does not take any revenge even of its Ene- 

 "mies: whence it comes that they render it neither honour 

 nor adoration, and that they interpret thofe Treafures of cle- 

 mency, whereof it is fo liberal towards them , and that long- 

 fuffering whereby it bears with them, either to weaknete or 

 the indifference it hath for the conduct of mankind. 



Their perfwafion therefore is, that there are two kinds of (pi- 

 its, fome good, others evil : The good fpirits are their Gods 5 

 ind they call them in general Akamboue^ which is the word ufed 

 >y the men j and Opoyem, which is that of the Women .* True 

 t is, the word Akamboue fignifies (imply a spirit , and thence 

 t comes that it is alfo called the fpirit of man 5 but this appel- 

 ation they never attribute to the evil fpirits : Thefe good fpi- 

 its, which are their Gods, are more particularly exprefs'd by 

 he men under the word Icheiri, and by the women under 

 hat ofc£ew//»,which we cannot render otherwife than by that 

 >f GW, and Chemiignum^ the Gods : And every one (peaking 

 particularly of his God, fays Icheirikpu^ which is the word 

 of the men, and Hechemerakpu^ which is that of the women.* 

 But both men and women call the evil fpirit, which is their De- 

 vil, Mapoya^ or Maboya^ all the French pronounce it; but the 

 Caribbians in that word pronounce the B according to the Ger- 

 man pronunciation. . , . . 



They believe that there is a great number of thefe good 

 Spirits, or Gods, and every one imagines that there is one of 

 them particularly defign'd for his conduct : They fay there- 

 fore, that thefe Gods have their abode in Heaven, but they 

 know not what ihey do there, and of themfelves they never 

 propofeto themfelves the making of any acknowledgment of 

 them as Creators of the world, and the things contained there- 

 in : But only when it is faid to them, that the God we adore 

 is he who hath made Heaven and Earth, and that it is he who 

 caufeththe Earth to bring forth things for our nourifhment 5 

 they anfwer; Truejhy God hath made the Heaven and the Earth 

 of France (or fome other Country johich they name) and caufes thy 

 Wheat to grow there : But our Gods have made our Country , and 

 caufe our Manioc to grove. 



It is affirmed by fome,that they call their falfe Gods des Rio- 

 ches ; but that word is not of their Language, but is derived 

 from the Spanijf) : The French affirm the fame thing after the 

 Spaniards 3 and if the Curibbians make ufe of it a they do it not 



among 



