inclined, she throws his presents on the ground with disdain. It is some considerable time before all the preliminaries are settled, because the girl's relations are seemingly loth to give their consent, which is all artifice, and the pure result of an avaricious disposition. For the gallant, during the whole time of the courtship, is daily making them some valuable presents, in order to ingratiate himself into their favour, and obtain their consent, and they are cunning enough to know that there will be but few presents after their marriage.

When all parties are absolutely agreed, a certain day is appointed for the celebration of their nuptials, and the bridegroom must bring along with him more presents, some for the bride and some for her relations. The marriage ceremony consists in the priest's striking a flint with steel, and the bride and bridegroom light tapers at it. Then they walk home to their huts, and the bridegroom is obliged to serve his father-in-law a whole year after the marriage, and then he takes home his wife and her fortune. When a woman is pregnant, they pretend to know whether she will have a son or a daughter, and this they do by consulting the moon. When a star appears above that planet, it indicates the birth of a boy; and when a star appears near and seems to go before it, it is a happy presage that the child will be healthy, robust and active.

Scheffer tells us, that when a native falls sick, he sends for one whom he imagines most skilful in the use of the drum, who, in order to restore him, first offers up a rein-deer as a sacrifice to one of their idols; then he beats the drum, and falls down in either a real or imaginary trance. He continues in this inactive situation about an hour, and, during that time, those who are present sing the magician's song, which restores him to his senses. He rises up, takes his drum, and clapping it close to his ear, beats softly upon it. Afterwards he stands for some short time like one in deep contemplation, and then relates all that was delivered to him while in a trance.

When a man dies, his whole family leaves the house; for they have a notion, that the soul of the deceased hovers round the corpse. They generally bury the bodies of their dead in gloomy caverns, the mouths of which they stop up with stones. They put into the cavern beside the dead, a hatchet, a steel, flint, and a tinder-box; and the reason they give for this strange ceremony is, that as the deceased will want light, so he may strike it when he pleases. We are assured that the ancient Danes and Saxons, before they were converted to Christianity, buried warlike instruments along with the

dead, of which many have been dug up in different parts of Britain; and, probably, this was the prac tice of all the Heathen nations in the world.

In Lapland the hatchet is laid beside the deceased, that in case he should meet in his way with briars and thorns, or boughs of trees to obstruct his pas▾ sage through the thick forests, he may cut them. down; for they believe that no person after death can be admitted into heaven, unless he fights his way into it. This notion of theirs seems to proceed from the nature of the climate where they live; their nights being long and dark, they imagine the dead meet with the same inconveniencies in their

way to heaven. At their funerals they kill the rein deers which drew the body of the deccased to the grave, and make merry over their corpse, in memory of their friend being removed out of a world of grief and sorrow. They have one more custom relating to their dead, which is singular enough, They pour brandy over the face of the corpse, and dance round it, singing their funeral songs in praise of the deceased.

When they take an oath, they wish the devil may come and fetch them away, with their wives, children, and rein deers, if they perjure themselves. They have confused notions concerning the creation of the world; and whenever they see the moon eclipsed, they believe that planet is attacked by some malicious devils, and on such occasions, they think it their duty to give her all the assistance they can. In this emergency, they take their arms and shoot at her, and continue to do so till the eclipse is over. When it thunders, the Laplanders imagine that God is chastizing the devils, and that they, in order to escape his vengeance, take shelter under the bellies of their dogs; for that reason, as long as the thunder continues, they keep those creatures shut out of doors

When they sit down to eat, they invoke their idols to bless their provisions for their use, and they gather up all the bones of the rein deer, and throw them into their marshy grounds. This they look upon as absolutely necessary, because if neglected, the rein deer would become indolent and inactive. They ascribe to their witches apower to augment the coldness of the weather; but then none are duly qualified for this operation, but such as have been born in winter. These women take a little human figure made of snow, and besmear the head of it with their spittle, coloured red with the juice of the alder tree, the bark whereof they chew in their mouths when they set themselves about performing this operation.

When

When they are disposed to allay the excessive [ cold, they take the skin of a bear and hang it out in the air all night. The Laplander, as soon as he The Laplander, as soon as he rises, takes a bunch of rods and whips this skin; for they imagine that the cold abates in proportion to the blows. In this operation they make use of several magical terms, and for the same purpose cut the skin of a fawn into small pieces, and throw them into the fire, repeating a form of prayer. They take particular care when they have visitors, that no person shall walk in the house before another who is going out of it, and that no one shall cross the room in any part of it, but the void space between the fire and the company. Should a woman stride over a man's legs, in order to get by him, the unmannerly action would create a world of mischief. But we need not think much of their superstitions, seeing that were we to relate all the superstitions in our enlightened nation, we might fill a volume.

With respect to such of the Laplanders as profess Christianity, they are not numerous; they are either Greeks or Lutherans, but neither of them are well grounded in the principles of religion. As for those who are Greeks, it is not much to be wondered at ;

for their religion, like that of the Roman Catholics, is not calculated to convey any sort of knowledge. As for the Lutheran ministers, it is well known that they are faithful in the discharge of the pastoral office in the countries where they are born, nor do we find they are remiss in Lapland; but probably, either they have not salaries adequate to their labours, or which is more probable, having no company to converse with, they become melancholy and long to return to their own country.

Such is the present state of Lapland with respect to religion, and melancholy as their conduct may appear, yet they are not worse or more superstitious than some who have better advantages. The only way to bring them over to the belief and knowledge of Christianity, is to get some of their young men to settle a few years in Sweden and Denmark; there they might be educated in all sorts of useful learning, and some of these might be ordained ministers, others school-masters. If this was done at the public expence, the youth, in general would emulate each other, their manners would be civilized, and towns being erected among them, they would become fond of society.

N our account of the ancient Persian religion, we have related what these people believed and practised, but as the Mahometan religion has made a vast difference in many things throughout that extensive empire, we shall now proceed to give an historical narrative of the Gaures, who although few in number, yet remain in a body together. And this will be found the more necessary, because it will naturally lead us to explain with greater precision and certainty the religion of the heathens in Africa. Persia indeed is far from Africa, but still there is some affinity to be met with in the religion of all the ancient heathens. They differ indeed in many things, but they all agree in the worst of things, namely, that of opposing the truth.

These people boast of a perpetual succession of their religion, without any interruption; and though many persons may be apt to imagine this a meer

romance, it is nevertheless strictly true and matter of fact. The religion of the Magi has existed almost ever since the flood; and although it may have been exposed from time to time to divers heresies and persecutions; and though, since the establishment of the Mahometans in Persia, it is reduced to a very small body of faithful members, it would be an act of injustice and partiality to rob them of the glory of maintaining their tenets with unshaken resolution, even in the blackest storms that ever threatened to overwhelm them. If the Gaures have lost their temporal jurisdiction, they can still boast an uninterrupted succession in the priesthood, a regular and uniform liturgy without the least variation since Zoroaster's time, and an inviolable attachment to the doctrines which he established.

The Gaures are inviolably attached to the reformation of Zoroaster, and they acknowledge a superior principle to those two before-mentioned of

good!

good and evil, whom the Persians, after they had Swerved and deviated from the religion of their forefathers, established, as the sole author of light and darkness. The Gaures conceived, that by the intermixture of these two principles, God created every being in nature. A very celebrated author is of opinion, that Zoroaster borrowed that idea from the Jews; and this observation, in all probability, is very just. We shall only make this cursory remark, however, that this great icformer, foreseeing the difficulties attending so mysterious and incomprehensible a point, inaintained, that tho' all things were good which God created, yet darkness or evil inseparably attended them, as shadows do corporeal substances. God could not possibly, according to his nature, produce any thing but good, but evil resulted from those productions, as a privation of good.

Zoroaster was no stranger to the account which Moses had given of the creation, and of the fall of the angels, and our first parents; but if it be granted, that he had read these remarkable occurrences in the books of Moses, it must likewise be allowed, that he made, either wilfully, or through ignorance, some very considerable alterations. As for instance, he asserted, That the world was created at six several seasons, each consisting of a certain number of days, viz. the first of forty-five, in which God created the heavens; the second of sixty, wherein he formed the waters; the third of seventy-five, in which he made the earth; the fourth of thirty, which were employed in the creation of the vegetable world; the fifth of fourscore, which were spent in the formation of all manner of living creatures, man only excepted; the sixth and last, of seventyfive, in which he created our first parents; but some authors give us a quite different account of this creation.

The Gaures likewise hold, that as the world was to be encreased and multiplied by two persons only, God graciously determined, that Eve should every day bring a pair of twins into the world; and that during the term of one thousand years, death should have no dominion over her seed; that the devil tempted our first parents, in order to render them odious in the eyes of their creator; that God, being conscious of the malice of the spirit of darkness, did not think convenient totally to suppress this evil, but took the following measures to check the malignant influences of it. He constituted a select company of angels to be the guardians and protectors of his creatures. Hamul was made inspector of the heavens; Acrob superintendant of the angels; the sun, moon, earth, waters, man, plants, and all No. 19.

living creatures of what nature or kind soever, had their particular guardian angels. But notwithstanding all these prudent precautions, evil increased, men grew wicked and perverse in all their ways, and God sent therefore the waters of the deluge at once to extirpate them, and all their impious race. The devils are put in opposition to the good angels; whose several names and functions are registered at large in Hide; but we shall not trouble the reader with a transcript of his catalogue.

The Gaures are exceedingly religious, and never mention the deity but with all the circumspection and reverence imaginable. They allow him all the same glorious attributes as we do; they look upon him as the sovereign judge, and bountiful rewarder of all mankind, just, merciful, and ready to pardon. Both the angels and devils of whom we have been speaking, are the ministers of God; the one for the administration of good, and the other of evil. These Gaures likewise are of opinion, that each individual person has both a good and evil genius constantly attending him. It is farther a received notion amongst them that the influence of a certain general light is infused, if we may be allowed the expression, after an extraordinary manner, into some particular persons who are the favourites of the Almighty. It is this light, according to them, that renders some men conspicuous for their deep penetration into all the arts and sciences, and formis the geniuses of such as are born to sit at the helm of state; and we may add, helps them to bring about. the various revolutions that overset whole empires, and likewise to excite the same confusion in the minds of men.

This is doubtless no absurd notion, nor is it any ways extravagant to imagine, that this light sometimes diffuses itself after such a profuse manner, on some certain number of persons in a family, that its favours seem partially bestowed on them, to the manifest detriment and disadvantage of the rest. This is indisputably a very just remark, though not to be accounted for by physic or astrology. Any person that will give himself but the least trouble imaginable to reflect, will easily perceive, that there is a certain quantity of merit, as well as of temporal advantages allotted for distinct families. Kingdoms likewise are after the same manner permitted to be formidable and powerful, to flourish, and be masters of the arts and sciences in the highest perfection for a time, and then again, are destined to an apparent declension. Aud indeed all things in nature as well as the human species, have their proper seasons for their increase, maturity and decay.

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