VOYAGE TO MADAGASCAR. iSj 



takes a pleafure in disfigunng himfelf in a 

 thoufand various ways. The Indian length- 

 ens his ears ; the Chine fe cru£Kes his nofe, 

 and flattens his forehead ; and if we narrowly 

 enquire into thefe childifli conceits, we iliall' 

 perhaps find^ that man in a ftate of civiiif- 

 ation, is guilty of much greater abfurdities 

 than the favage. 



The iflanders of Madagafcar are neither 

 villains nor thieves, becaufe we find them 

 victims to the moft fatal prejudices, and the 

 mo ft ridiculous fuperftitions. There is no 

 country on the face of the earth which has 

 not its fables and chimeras. Everywhere 

 you will fee men invoking fpirits, confiding 

 in the power of amulets, and giving credit 

 to the abfurd reveries of judicial aftrology. 

 It is certainly not aniongft civil ifed nations 

 that this fpirit of infatuation has occafioned 

 the feweft evils. When fa perftition is added 

 to the multiplied vices of large focieties, its 

 N 4 poifon 



