Among All These Nations, The Religion Of Mahomet Has Made,
And Continues To Make, Considerable Progress; But In Most Of Them, The
Body Of The People, Both Free And Enslaved, Persevere In Maintaining The
Blind But Harmless Superstitions Of Their Ancestors, And Are Called By
The Mahomedans _Kafirs_, Or Infidels.
Of the Feloops, I have little to add to what has been observed concerning
them in the former chapter.
They are of a gloomy disposition, and are
supposed never to forgive an injury. They are even said to transmit their
quarrels as deadly feuds to their posterity; insomuch that a son
considers it as incumbent on him, from a just sense of filial obligation,
to become the avenger of his deceased father's wrongs. If a man loses his
life in one of those sudden quarrels, which perpetually occur at their
feasts, when the whole party is intoxicated with mead, his son, or the
eldest of his sons, (if he has more than one,) endeavours to procure his
father's sandals, which he wears _once a year_, on the anniversary of his
father's death, until a fit opportunity offers of avenging his fate, when
the object of his resentment seldom escapes his pursuit. This fierce and
unrelenting disposition is, however, counterbalanced by many good
qualities; they display the utmost gratitude and affection towards their
benefactors; and the fidelity with which they preserve whatever is
entrusted to them is remarkable. During the present war they have, more
than once, taken up arms to defend our merchant vessels from French
privateers; and English property, of considerable value, has frequently
been left at Vintain, for a long time, entirely under the care of the
Feloops, who have uniformly manifested on such occasions the strictest
honesty and punctuality.
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