Of Their Ideas Of The Origin And Duration
Of His Existence; Of His Power And Capacity; Of His Benignity Or Maleficence;
Or Of Their Own Emanation From Him, I Pretend Not To Speak.
I have often,
in common with others, tried to gain information from them on this head;
but we were always repulsed by obstacles which we could neither pass by
or surmount.
Mr. Dawes attempted to teach Abaroo some of our notions
of religion, and hoped that she would thereby be induced to communicate hers
in return. But her levity and love of play in a great measure defeated
his efforts, although every thing he did learn from her served to confirm
what is here advanced. It may be remarked, that when they attended at church
with us (which was a common practice) they always preserved profound silence
and decency, as if conscious that some religious ceremony on our side
was performing.
The question of, whether they believe in the immortality of the soul
will take up very little time to answer. They are universally fearful
of spirits.* They call a spirit 'mawn'. They often scruple to approach
a corpse, saying that the 'mawn' will seize them and that it fastens upon them
in the night when asleep.** When asked where their deceased friends are
they always point to the skies. To believe in after existence is to confess
the immortality of some part of being. To enquire whether they assign
a 'limited' period to such future state would be superfluous.
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