sepulchre was profaned through a principle of religion; and the malquis,[1] elevated to the rank of gods, received in the plains the sacrifices of the living.
All their errors having been covered by the veil of piety, they were insensible to this strange alienation of the mind, and were persuaded of the assistance of a particular deity, in the rocks, in the elevated grounds, in the vallies, in the streams, springs, and rivers, and in all the places inhabited by men or wild beasts; insomuch, that they did not proceed a step without invoking the names of the divinities their imagination had created, and tendering to them an offering. By these ridiculous and degrading superstitions they were fascinated; and as religion has a powerful influence on the customs, their spirit, occupied by ideas of so chimerical a nature, unnecessarily invented rites, and multiplied presages. When, for the first time, they cut off the hair of their male offspring, they were at infinite pains to celebrate the act. Imagining it to be the dawn of their felicity, they assembled their relatives and friends, and solemnized the festival with every demonstration of joy, presenting to the shorn youths, gold, silver, and other gifts. The same practice was followed by the mothers, when their daughters attained the age of puberty. With an eager desire for their welfare, they strove, by certain charms and incantations, to provide for their future felicity.
The sick hastened to bathe in the pools and rivers, practising an infinite number of extravagant ceremonies, and dis-
- ↑ Dead bodies.
