i5 
1669] of the Island Dauphine , &c. 
have to do with a white man, indeed their parents solicit 
them for the purpose: thus it happened to some of our 
folk who were solicited by the Fathers themselves for the 
girls of this country. 
The men have as many wives as they wish, if they have 
the means of supporting them, & buy them of their 
parents, who sell them according to their beauty & 
quality. 
I was not able to find out, during the short time that Religion of 
the Cape 
I was in this place, what Religion these Cape Verdiens Verdiens. 
profess ; whether or not they hold to Mahomedanism, tho’ 
most of them have no difficulty in drinking Wine & 
eating the flesh of Pig. 
They have their Doctors whom they style Marabous. 
These are the Marabous who give them their Gris-gris 
of which I have spoken ; they believe them to be great 
sorcerers, & undertake nothing of consequence without 
consulting these Marabous, who to give a response to 
what is demanded consult, or feign to consult, the Demon 
to give a reply. 
Many persons worthy of belief, who have liv’d long 
time at the said Cape Verd, have told & assur’d me 
that the Devil often beats these poor Cape Verdiens ; they 
have sworn to me to have seen some to whom they had 
heard given the blows by which they found themselves 
nearly murder’d, indeed to have seen them jump in the 
air more than the height of a pike, then tumble like a 
stone. I have not seen these things, but I have been 
inform’d of them by people of the country, who told me 
that ’twas true, & that to appease the Demon they had 
huts which they dedicated to him, into which they carry’d 
from time to time presents, & of that which they might 
eat. Many persons ridicul’d these things ; but if it is 
permitted to judge according to one’s fancy one might 
believe whatever one wish’d. 
