Cinnamon And Ginger Are Likewise Found Here, And Many Other Kinds Of
Spices.
In this country the bodies of the dead are embalmed with divers drugs and
spices, and set up in niches in regular order, covered over with nets; they
there dry up completely without corruption, and every one knows his
ancestors for many generations back.
They worship the sun, said have many
large altars erected along the coast, about half a mile without the city,
to pay their devotions. On these altars there are consecrated spheres, made
by magic art, resembling the circle of the sun; and when the sun rises,
these orbs seem to be inflamed, and whirl round with a great noise[23]. In
their orisons, every person carries a censer, in which he burns incense in
honour of the sun. But among these people there are about a thousand
families of Jews, as black as the rest of the natives, yet good honest men,
and strict observers of the law of Moses, and not entirely ignorant of the
doctrines of the Talmud.
From this country I sailed, in twenty-two days, to the islands of Cinrog,
the inhabitants of which are called Dogbiim, and are worshippers of fire,
among whom 23,000 Jews are settled. The Dogbiim have many priests to
officiate in their temples, who are the most skilful sorcerers and
enchanters in the world. Before every temple there is a large pit, in which
a great fire is kindled every day, called Alhuta, through which their
children are made to pass as a purification; into it likewise they cast the
bodies of their dead, and even some of their nobles occasionally are so
superstitious as to devote themselves to be consumed alive in honour of the
deity, in which they are encouraged by their relations, as ensuring their
eternal welfare.
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