PART VI. 



INDIAN AND OTHER INHABITANTS OF PERU. 



ESSAY ON THE FALSE RELIGION, AND SUPERSTITIOUS CUSTOMS, OP THE 



PERUVIAN INDIANS. 



TO be acquainted with the Supreme Being, man does 

 not need the instru6lion of a master, but has within himself 

 a light emanating from the divinity, which fails not to point 

 out to him his maker. On this account, nations have at all 

 times agreed, that there is a deity, the artificer of the world, 

 by whom it is governed and preserved. Nature herself affords 

 the strongest evidences of his existence and power. The ce- 

 lestial vault, adorned with luminous stars which usurp the 

 empire of night ; the sun, the sovereign ruler of years and 

 days ; the plains covered with flowers and golden harvests ; 

 the quadrupeds which tread the earth ; the birds which skim 

 the diaphanous region of the air ; and the fishes which inhabit 

 the liquid element of the waters ; magnify the glory of the 

 Eternal, displaying the magnificence and skill of his hand. 

 Man alone, departing from the paths of light, follows the 

 obscurity of his aberrations, substituting impiety for religion, 

 and ascribing to the creatures the worship which is required by 

 his Lord. 



The insolent Ham, loaded with the maledi<5lions of his 

 father, and not having been instru£led by him in the worship 



which 



