have been discovered amongst the scattered nations and tribes of that Continent, in reference to the object of their worship. Speaking of the Deity, they call him, the Spirit, the Great Spirit, and the Spirit of fire; some indiscriminately: but the Peruvians carry their symbol worship still farther. Their Incas are Children of the Sun: the first of them descended from the Sun to give them Laws: their temples are temples of the Sun. Yet we are not to suppose that the Sun itself was their God. They directed their attention to that bright luminary, as the ancient Persians and Chaldeans did, because it is the direct dwelling Place of the Great Spirit-as we say, Heaven is God's throne. But they certainly have formed no images of their God, nor did they plant Groves around their temples, as the Canaanites and the Druids were used to do: so often referred to in Scripture.

In almost all other parts of America the dead were placed on their haunches, the face towards the East, that on revival they may hail the rising Sun: but it is remarkable that in Peru, which is bounded on the East by an uninterrupted range of lofty mountains, and where the Sun is not seen till it has risen high in the heavens, the dead are always found in the same position with their faces towards the West-that they may behold his setting, since his rising is not within their view.

Of the Antiquities of Mexico and the Missisippi, I shall speak in a future chapter.

CHAPTER V.

OF PUBLIC Festivals.

IT will be proper to give a particular account of the

festivals of the American Indians; for in all ages and in all generations religion has been connected with festivals, and the indulgence of the appetite has formed a part of the gratitude to be paid to the giver of all blessing. Those who have written on the feasts of the Indians, specify five that bear strong characteristic marks, by which the philosophical enquirer may be assisted in forming his opinion of the ancient stock from whence they sprang. These are. The feast of first fruits, the hunters' feast, the feast of harvest, a daily sacrifice, and a feast of love. Of all habits those of religion are the most powerful, and keep the fastest hold.

Mr. Penn, who acquired his knowledge of this people from his own observation, informed his friends in England in the year 1683, that "their worship consisted of two parts-sacrifice and cantico: the first is for their first fruits. The first fat buck they kill goes to the fire, where

it is all burned with a doleful chaunt of the priest, and with such fervency and labour of body that he sweats to a foam. The other is the cantico, performed by round dances, words, songs and shouts, and drumming on a board." At one of the feasts Mr. Penn was present: it consisted of twenty bucks with hot cakes made of new corn, of both wheat and beans, in a square form, wrapped in leaves and baked in the ashes: when these were eaten they fell to dancing. Every visitor takes with him a present in their money, which is made of the bone of a fish, the black is as gold, the white as silver; they call it wampum. He also remarks "that they reckon by moons, they offer their first fruits, they have a kind of feast of tabernacles, they are said to lay their altars upon twelve stones, they mourn a year, they have a separation of women"; and other things which do not occur in the present day.

From Mr. Adair we have the following abstract of a feast which may be called, the feast of first fruits.

"On the day appointed, as soon as the spring produce comes in, while the sanctified new fruits are dressing, six old heloved women come to the temple or sacred wigwam of worship, and dance the beloved dance with joyful hearts. They observe a solemn procession as they enter the holy ground, carrying in one hand a bundle of small branches of green trees; where they are joined by six old men, adorned with white feathers, having green boughs in the other hand. They are dressed in shewy ornaments. The oldest man begins the dance, going round the holy fire in solemn silence: in the next circle he invokes yah, after the usual manner, on a bass key and with a strong

accent: in another circle he sings ho, ho, which is repeated by all the religious procession, till they finish the circle. Then in another round, they repeat, he, he, in regular notes, keeping time in the dance; another circle is made in like manner, repeating wah, wah. A little while after this is finished they begin again, going fresh rounds singing, hal-hal-le-le-lu-lu-yah-yah, in like manner, and frequently the whole train strike up, halelu, hallelu, halleluyah, halleluyah, with earnestness, fervour and joy, each striking the ground with right and left foot alternately, strongly and well timed. Then a kind of hollow sounding drum joins the sacred choir, on which the old women chaunt forth their grateful praises to the Great Spirit, redoubling their steps in imitation of the beloved men at their head." This is similar to the dances of the Hebrews, some of whose dance-songs had no doubt the word halleluyah at the beginning or ending. These degenerate people, losing their ancient language, and with it the words of these festive songs, have still retained the chorus sound, as that which made the deepest impression and was known by all; and it is well attested, that all the inhabitants of the extensive regions of North and South America, have and retain these very expressive sounds, and repeat them distinctly in their religious acclamations. Deut. ch. 26. especially verse 11.

On other religious occasions they have been distinctly heard to sing ale-yo, ale-yo, the divine name expressive of omnipotence: also, he-wah, he-wah, intimating the soul, or eternity, derived from yo-he-wah. These words of their religious dances are never repeated at any other time;

which has contributed to the loss of their meaning, for it is thought they do not now understand either the literal or the spiritual meaning of what they sing, any further than by allusion to the name and the praise of the Great Spirit.

"In these circuitous dances they frequently sing on a bass key, aluhe, aluhe, aluwah, aluwah; also shilu-yo, shilu-he, shilu-wah and shilu-hah. These they transpose in several ways, with the same notes. They continue their hymns of joy for the space of about fifteen minutes and then they break up. As they degenerate they are said to lengthen the dance and shorten the fast and purificacation; and so exceedingly are they known to have changed within the last seventy or eighty years, that if they continue to decline from the manners of their ances-tors, there will not ere long be a possibility of recognising them, but by their dialects and war customs: which also will alter. After the dance is over they drink plentifully of bitter liquids to cleanse their sinful bodies; and then go to some convenient water, and there, according to the cere monial law of the Hebrews, they wash away their sins. They then return with joy in solemn procession, singing songs of praise, till they enter the sacred square, to eat the new fruits which are brought to the outside of it by the beloved women. They observe the greatest decorum in these solemnities, and give the name kanaha to any who violate them. There is a subdivided tribe on the North part of Pensylvania called Kanaa or Kanai, a sound much like Canaan."

Accounts very similar to this are given by other writers.