PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
117 
could tell me. The inquiries of the dancer were whether this, 
was not the greatest of all gods, whether they were not bound to 
sacriiice their lives to preserve him, and whether, if they should 
lose him, there would not be an end of their race. They showed 
me an abundance of plumes and other ornaments belonging to 
thee divinity, and in front of the house, where he was kept, there 
was a kind of sedan chair, ornamented with leaves and cloth in 
the most fanciful manner, which was for the purpose of carrying 
their god on some ceremony. I endeavoured to ascertain whether 
they had an idea of a future state, rewards and punishments, and 
the nature of their heaven. As respects the latter article, they 
believed it to be an island, somewhere in the sky, abounding with 
every thing desirable; that those killed in war and carried off by 
their friends go there, provided they are furnished with a canoe 
and provisions, but that those who are carried off by the enemy, 
never reach it unless a sufficient number of the enemy can be 
obtained to paddle his canoe there, and for this reason they were 
so anxious to procure a crew for their priest, who was killed and 
carried off by the Happahs. They have neither rewards nor pu¬ 
nishments in this world, and I could not learn that they expected 
any in the next—their religion, however, is like a play-thing, an 
amusement to them, and I very much doubt whether they, at any 
moment, give it a serious thought; their priests and jugglers man¬ 
age those matters for them; what they tell them they believe, 
and do not put themselves to the trouble of considering whether 
it is right or wrong. If the priests tell them they shall have rain 
Within a certain period they believe him, if it does not rain agreea¬ 
ble to his prediction they think n© more of it. They deal great¬ 
ly in charms and incantations; by them they believe they can pro¬ 
cure the death of their enemies, and effect the cure of the most 
dangerous wounds and sickness; the priests are their principal 
surgeons and physicians; they loose many of their patients, still 
the people believe them none the less; they are not fond of trou¬ 
ble, and least of all, the trouble of thinking. They are very cre¬ 
dulous, and will as readily believe in one religion as another. I 
have explained to them the nature of the Christian religion, in a 
manner to suit their ideas; they listened with much attention, ap¬ 
peared pleased with the novelty of it, and agreed that our God 
