first appeared in; and they believe that the destruction of their cattle would ensue if they were to kill it.

The Negroes of Congo believe in a good and an evil principle, which are both supposed to reside in the sky. The former sends rain, the latter withholds it; but they do not seem to consider either of them as possessing any influence over human affairs. After death they all take their place in the sky, and enjoy a happy existence, without any regard being paid to their good or bad actions while here below.

Each town has a grand kissey, or presiding divinity. It is the figure of a man, the body stuck with feathers, rags, and bits of iron, and resembles nothing so much as one of our Scarecrows. The chenoo of Cooloo had a kissey so redoubtable that if any person attempted to shoot at it he would fall down dead, and the flint would drop out of the musket. This powerful divinity was the figure of a man, about two feet high, rudely carved in wood, and covered with rags.

Kolloh is the name of a great spirit who is supposed to reside in the vicinity of Yangroo, in Western Africa. He makes his abode in the woods, and is rarely seen except on mournful occasions, such as the death of the king or of some of their headmen, or when a person has been buried without having observed the usual ceremonies of dancing, drinking palm wine, &c. in remembrance of their departed friends.

The Kolloh is made of bamboo sticks in the form of an oval basket, about three feet long, and so deep that it goes on to the man's shoulders. It is covered with a piece of net, and stuck all around with porcupine quills on the nose. It has a frightful appearance, and has a great effect in exciting the terror of the inhabitants.

A certain man pretends to have some very intimate intercourse with this Beelzebub, and therefore he is called by the spirit to take the Kolloh on his head and to go about with it on certain occasions to see that the various ceremonies of the country are strictly observed, and if any are absent he seeks them out and drives them to the place of assembly.→ He is a faithful servant of the Devil.

The Kolloh-man carries a stick in his hand to show his authority, and to give notice of his coming he rings a bell which is fixed inside of the Kolloh or basket. These Kolloh men are a set of plunderers who disturb the peace and greatly deceive the ignorant natives.

Each house has also its particular divinities, which are invoked on all occasions, and are included in the term fetish, When a man applies to a gangam, or priest, for a domestic fe

tish, he is told from what sorts of food he must abstain. Children are forbidden to eat the food that is fetished to their fathers. Women are not to eat meat the day that it is killed.

Once a year the different tribes of the Agows meet at the source of the Nile, and sacrifice a black heifer that has never borne a calf. The head of the animal is wrapped in its skin, and what becomes of it is not known. The carcass, after having been washed at the fountain is divided among the tribes and eaten raw; the only beverage allowed is from the spring; the bones are piled up and burnt. The church of St. Michael Gean is never opened and the people are privately hastening its decay, while they pray to the spirit residing in the river, and call it "Father of the universe," "Light of the world," "Saviour of the world," "Everlasting God," and "God of peace."

The richer sort of the Agows keep serpents of a particular kind in their houses, which they consult, before they undertake a journey, or an affair of any consequence. They hunt this animal from his retreat, and place butter and milk, of which he is extravagantly fond, before him; if he do not eat, misfortune is at hand. Before an invasion of the Galla, or the inroad of any other enemy, they say that these serpents disappear, and are not to be feared.

The Nubu pay adoration to the moon, and testify great joy at its first appearance. They also worship a tree and a stone, but it is a tree and a stone of their own country, not of Sonnaar.

The inhabitants of Cacongo believe in a Supreme Being, the Creator of all that is good and beautiful, just, and a lover of justice, and severely punishing fraud and perjury. They call him Zambi. They also believe in another being whom they call Zumbi a-n'bi, the god of wickedness, the author of crimes and misfortunes, and the destroyer of the good things created by the other. They think the good being requires no propitiation, and they endeavour to appease the wrath of the evil by offering him some banana trees, which they leave to perish, with the fruit untouched.

These secondary divinities are imitations of the human figure, rudely carved in wood, and placed in houses like their own, or in woods or unfrequented places. If any thing considerable be stolen, one of these is brought into the marketplace, with much ceremony, to discover the thief; and so much are thieves afraid of the penetration of these wooden deities, that they frequently restore in private the thing taken, rather than to expose themselves to the risk of being detected in public.

The third rank of divinities are bones of monkies, teeth of fishes, and feathers of birds, which are worn to preserve their owners from particular accidents and misfortunes. To keep sterility from their fields, they stick into the ground broken pots, and the branches of trees. If they are to be long absent from home, they place the sentinels before the door of their house, and the most determined thief would not dare to pass the threshold, if it were guarded by these mysterious agents.

The people of Benin believe in an invisible deity, who created heaven and earth, and governs them with absolute power; but they conceive it needless to worship him, because he is always doing good without their services. They also believe in a malignant deity, to whom they sacrifice men and animals, to satiate his thirst of blood, and prevent him from doing them mischief. But they have innumerable objects of worship; as elephants' teeth, claws, bones, dead men's heads, or any trifle that chance throws in their way, to which they make a daily offering of a tew boiled yams, mixed with palm oil.

The people of Whydah believe in an Almighty and Omnipresent Creator of the universe; but he is not an object of their worship, as they think him too highly exalted above them to trouble himself about the affairs of mankind.

When they undertake any matter of importance, they commit its success to the first object that appears on their going out of the house; a dog, a cat, or any other animal; and in default of these, a tree, a stone, or a piece of wood. The newly constituted deity is presented with an offering, accompanied with a solemn vow, that if he will prosper the undertaking, he shall be reverenced as a god. If the affair prove successful, the vow is fulfilled, and the divinity is presented with daily offerings; if otherwise, he is rejected and returned to his primitive estate.

The people of Whydah have three public objects of devotion; some lofty trees, the sea, and a certain sort of snake. The chief of these is the snake; the trees and the sea not interfering with his government, but being subject to his superintendance and reproof. The snake is invoked in all excesses of the seasons, in all difficulties of the state, in all diseases of the cattle, in all circumstances not committed to the above mentioned deities of chance.

The priests of the snake have sometimes exacted so many offerings from the king, in order to attain a good crop of grain, that his majesty's patience has been exhausted. Finding

him, says Bosman, on one of these occasions in a passion, the traders ventured to ask him what had discomposed him, he replied, "I have sent much larger offerings to the snakehouse this year than usual; and now the priests threaten me with a barren season if I do not send more! I will send no more; and if the snake will not bestow a plentiful harvest, he may let alone. I cannot be more injured than I am; for the greatest part of my corn is rotten in the field already."

The snake-house is situated about two miles distant from the king's village, under the shade of a beautiful tree. The deity that resides in it is the chief and longest of all snakes, he is said to be as thick as a man, and of an immeasurable length; he is also one of the oldest of snakes; for the priests report that a great number of years before, being disgusted with the wickedness of man, he left his own country and came to them. He was welcomed by every expressible sign of reverence, and carried on a silken carpet to the snake-house, where he has resided to the present time.

It is affirmed that the great snake went out to take the air at different times, and that at these times every young woman he touched became distracted. It is certain that in every large village there is a house appropriated to the reception of these young maniacs, where they are boarded, lodged, and restored to reason by the priests, at a considerable expense to their fathers and husbands and it is observable that no women are touched by the snake whose friends cannot afford this expense. An intelligent negro, the interpreter of a slave-merchant, mentioned by Bosman, whose wife had been touched by the snake, gave the following account of this miracle:

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He says, "the priests kept their eye upon those young ladies who had not yet seen the snake; and having fixed upon one for the present occasion, they gave her the necessary instructions, and tempted her by threats to follow them. The woman then went into the street, and watching an opportunity when no person was in sight, cried, "The snake! the snake!" Before any one could come to her assisstance, she had been touched, and the spake had vanished. The lady was raving mad, and was conducted to the asylum for religious lunatics. When the cure was effected, she was set at liberty; and present and everlasting vengeance denounced against her, if she betrayed the secret."

The wife of a merchant's interpreter having been touched by the snake, began by breaking to pieces every utensil in the house. The husband, who, from having lived a good

deal with Europeans, suspected from whence the malady pro-. ceeded, led her gently by the hand, as if he were going to take her to the snake-house; instead of which, he took her to the residence of some European store-merchants, who were then at Whydah, purchasing slaves; intending to sell her. The lady, finding him in earnest, was instantly cured of her madness, fell on her knees, confessed the trick, and implored his forgiveness. This was a bold attempt: and had the priests discovered it, the death of the husband would have been the consequence.

The negroes would, at the request of the Europeans, gently carry their divinities out of the house; but when they stationed themselves among the timbers of the roof, they were obliged to let them remain till they chose to descend. They were, however, perfectly inoffensive. They were streaked with white, yellow, and brown; and the longest seen by the merchant was two yards long, and as thick as a man's arm. They are fond of rats. If a snake was in the roof, and a rat passed along the floor, the snake impatiently hissed, and used all possible diligence to disengage itself; while the rat, conscious that the time this would take was his security, looked undaunted on his dreadful adversary, and escaped at his leis. ure. When caught, the snake is more than an hour in swallowing its prey; his throat being at first too narrow, and distending by degrees.

From this circumstance it appears that the people of Whydah do not worship the snake, and protect him in their houses, without a motive; for if snakes had not eaten rats, rats might have devoured the harvest. In Popo, an adjoining territory, the rats were in such incredible numbers that the traders counselled the inhabitants to attack them in time, lest they should drive them out of the country, and take possession of it themselves.

The Ashantees are perhaps the most polished nation of negroes to be met with in Western Africa. They are, howevever, gross idolaters, and most lavish of human blood in sacrifices at their funerals and festivals. Bowdich relates several instances of this ferocious custom.

The decease of a person of consequence, says he, is announced by a discharge of musketry; and in an instant slaves are seen bursting out of the house, and running towards the bu-h, in order to escape, if possible, the being sacrificed. The body is handsomely dressed in silk and gold, and laid on the bed, with the richest clothes beside it. One or two slaves are then sacrificed at the door of the house.