SOUTH AMERICA. 
53 
some of them, still it would be hardly fair to pro- FIRST 
nounce them added by the hand of superstition, till —■ ' RNrv 
proof positive can be obtained. 
We might argue on the subject, and by bringing 
forward instances of Indian superstition, draw our 
conclusion by inference, and still remain in doubt on 
this head. You know superstition to be the offspring 
of ignorance, and of course that it takes up its abode 
amongst the rudest tribes of uncivilized man. It 
even too often resides with man in his more en¬ 
lightened state. 
o 
The Augustan age furnishes numerous examples. 
A bone snatched from the jaws of a fasting bitch, 
and a feather from the wing of a night owl,— u ossa 
ab ore rapta jejunse canis, plumamque nocturnas 
strigis,”—were necessary for Canidia’s incantations. 
And in aftertimes, parson Evans, the Welshman, 
was treated most ungenteelly by an enraged spirit, 
solely because he had forgotten a fumigation in his 
witch-work. 
If, then, enlightened man lets his better sense give 
way, and believes, or allows himself to be persuaded, 
that certain substances and actions, in reality of no 
avail, possess a virtue which renders them useful in 
producing the wished for effect; may not the wild, 
untaught, unenlightened savage of Guiana, add an 
ingredient which, on account of the harm it does 
him, he fancies may be useful to the perfection of his 
poison, though in fact it be of no use at all ? If a bone 
snatched from the jaws of a fasting bitch be thought 
necessary in incantation; or if witchcraft have re- 
