his traditionary worship of idols; though his adoration of the sun, of
certain of the birds of the air, and of the animal creation, is not now
blindly followed, and the invocation of these, for the supposed assuring
of success to various enterprises, is rarely put in effect, there is yet
preserved a relic of his old traditions, in the designs with which he
embellishes certain specimens of the handiwork, with which he oft vexes
the public eye. (I must really, though, pay my tribute of admiration
for the skilled workmanship many of these specimens disclose.) It is
common for him, when at work upon the elaborate carving in wood that he
practises, to engrave some hideous human figure, intended, obviously,
to represent an idol. Does it not excite wonder with us that such
refinements upon hideousness and repulsiveness could ever have provoked
the worship or adoration of any one?

One almost insuperable difficulty that the missionary experiences in his
attempts to instil religious principles into the Indian mind, is to get
him to entertain the theory that the human race sprang originally from
one pair. The pagan believes in the existence of a Supreme Being, though,
his idea of that Being's benignity and consideration relates solely to
an earthly oversight of him, and a concern for his daily wants. His
conception of future bliss is almost wholly sensual, and wrapped up
with the notion of an unrestrained indulgence of animal appetite, and
a whole-souled abandonment to feasting and dancing. His supreme view
of happiness is that he shall be, assigned happy hunting-grounds, which
shall be stocked with innumerable game, and where, equipped in perfection
for the chase, he shall ever be incited to its ceaseless pursuit.

Of course, such impressions, clogged and clouded as they are with
earthliness, have been dispelled in the cases of those, who have opened
their minds to the more desirable promises of the Gospel.