INHABITANTS OF LIEOU-KIEOU. 
89 
is that published by Mr. DobrizhofFer in 1785. This gentleman, who 
lived seven years in their country, informs us that they are not nume- 
rous, the whol^ nation not much exceeding 5000, for which he assigns 
as a reason an unnatural custom among their women, of sometimes 
destroying their owm children from motives of jealousy, lest their hus- 
bands should take other mates during the long time they give suck,' 
which is not less than two years. They are naturally white, but, by 
exposure to the air and smoke, become a brown colour. They are a 
strong and hardy race of people, which our author attributes to their 
marrying so late ; an Abipoiiian seldom or never thinks of marrying 
till he is thirty years of age. They are greatly celebrated on account 
of their chastity arid other virtues, though, according to our author, 
they have no knowledge of a Deity. They make frequent incursions 
into the territories of the Spaniards, mounted on horses which run 
wild in those parts. They have a kind of order of chivalry for their 
warriors, and are so formidable, that 100 of their enemies will fly 
before ten of those horsemen. The hatred which these savages, whose 
manners, though rude and uncultivated, are in many respects pure 
and virtuous, bear to the Spaniards, is invincible. 
“These pretended Christians,” says our author, “who are the scum 
of the Spanish nation, practise every kind of, fraud and villany among 
th ese poor barbarians ; and their corrupt and vicious morals are so 
adapted to prejudice the Abiponians against the Christian religion, 
that the Jesuit missionaries have, by a severe law, prohibited any 
Spaniard from coming, without a formal permission, into any of their 
colonies.” 
From his account of the succes.s of the Jesuits in converting them 
to Christianity, however, it does not appear that they have been able 
to do more than bribe them to a compliance with the ceremonies of 
the Popish superstition ; so that in general they are quite ignorant 
and uncivilized ; a most incredible instance of which is reported, viz. 
that in counting, they can go no farther than three, and that all the art of 
the Jesuits to teach them the simplest use and expression of numbers 
has proved unsuccessful ! ♦ 
Inhabitants of Lieou-kieou, a Kingdom in Asia, containing 
Thirty-six Islands, subject to China. 
Father GaBAL, a Jesuit, furnished some interesting details re- 
specting these islanders, which he extracted from a Chinese work, 
published in 1721, in 2 vols. by Sapao Koang, a learned Chinese 
doctor, who was sent ambassador by the emperor Koang-hi, in 1719, 
to the king of Lieou-kieou. Being on the spot, he examined, accord- 
ing to the emperor’s orders, whatever he found interesting, relative 
to the number, situation, and productions of these isles, as well as the 
history, religion, manners, and customs of the natives. 
These isles are situated between Corea, Formosa, and Japan. The 
natives pretend that the origin of their empire is lost in the remotest 
antiquity. They reckon up twenty-five successive dynasties, the 
duration of which forms a period of more than 18,000 years. It 
would be useless to point out the absurdity of these pretensions. It 
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