Adventures and researches among the Andaman islanders

Front matter

•

THE

ROY E. CHRISTENSEN

Chapter I

General Description of the Andaman Archipelago — Savage Character of the Inhabitants — The Great Andaman — The Middle Andaman — The South Andaman — The Little Andaman Sighted — Brief Notices of some of the Early Discoverers of this Group — Narrative of two Mohammedan Travellers in the Ninth Century — Their Absurd Description of the Natives — General Belief that the Inhabitants of the Andamans were Cannibals — Mysterious Fate of the Crew of a Ship wrecked on the Coast — Andaman Expeditions against the Nicobar Islands — Capture and Captivity of an Andaman Boy — Expedition under the Command of Captain Blair of the Indian Navy — His Survey of the Great Andaman — His Report addressed to the Marquis Cornwallis — Selection of a Convict Settlement — The Coral Reefs — General Accuracy of Captain Blair's Survey — His Speculations as to the Origin of the Natives and their Peculiar Character — Colonel Colebrooke's Account of the Andamans — Discovery of one of his Manuscript Journals — Visit to Chatham Island — Constant Hostility of the Natives — Colonel Colebrooke's Paper in the Asiatic Researches — Occasional Notices — Account of the Andamans in the Calcutta "Monthly Register"— Port Cornwallis visited by Colonel Syme — Exaggerated Reports of the Climate — Port Cornwallis appointed the place of Rendezvous for the Fleet and Army in the First Burmese War — Reported Discovery of Gold — Death of Dr. Heifer — Peril of Two Troop Ships — Works on the Andamans — Occasion of the Present Work . 1 v

VI CONTENTS.

Chapter II

The Month of November, 1857— Events in India— The " Black Watch1' — State of Feeling among the European Inhabitants during the Mutiny — The Author appointed to the Charge of the Andaman Expedition— Dr. Playfair and Lieutenant Heathcote — Last Evening in Calcutta — Lady Canning — The Governor- General — The Telegraphic Despatch — Preparations for the Expedition — Paucity of Records of Former Expeditions — The Steam Frigate Semiramis — Captain Campbell — Goa Musicians — The Scotch Bagpipes — Sandy's Peculiarities — Arrival at Moulmein — Pleasant Scenery — Monsieur Mallitte, our Photographer — Attentions of the Commissioner of the Province — Burmese Pioneers — Savage Implements of Destruction — Experiments with Poisoned Arrows — Information communicated by an Amateur Traveller — An Old Lady's Fears — The Phi to ready for Sea — Departure from Moulmein — A Crew of Various Nations — Sailors' Yarns — Opium-eating Malays — Sea Qualities of the Pluto — Exaggerated Ideas respecting the Mincopies — The Island of Narcondan — Character of the Scenery — Profuse Vegetation — Saddle Hill — Remains of Blair's Original Settlement ... 46

Chapter III

Notes and Reports — A Night Scene — Discovery of Native Huts — Search for the Cemetery of the Former Settlers — Stragglers — A False Alarm — Enduring Brickwork — Restless Spirits — Restraints of Discipline— A Survivor of the Prince — Insalubrity of the Neighbourhood of Port Cornwallis — Discovery of the Cause — Craggy Island — Our

First Sight of the Natives — Their Astonishment on perceiving us

Preparations for Landing — Our Unfriendly Reception^A Defiant

Chief— A Party of Native Women— Their Helpless Terror Their

Ungraceful Appearance— A Mincopie Matron — Bellicose Pantomime—Jealous Fury of the Male Savages— A Native Canoe— An

Unsuccessful Linguistic Attempt —Landing on Craggy Island

Interior of a Native Hut— An Unexpected Attack— Bad Firing— An Unfortunate Accident— The Evening Dolce far niente— Opinions regarding the " Scrimmage"— Useful Admonition to the Crew- Saddle Hill Photographed by Mons. Mallitte— Departure of the Pluto greeted with Yells of Triumph— Obstinate Enmity of the Sa\ a gea— Unsuccessful Issue of our First Attempt to hold Intercourse with them -. qo

Chapter IV

Our Progress along the Coast— Gigantic Trees— The Ficus Religiosa— Exploration of the North- West Side of the Bay— Our Burmese Pio-

CONTENTS. vii

neers — Mangrove Swamps — The Reverberation of Sound — Navigation of the Upper Strait — Effects of our Progress through the Fetid Water — Our Return to the Pluto — Barren Island — A Sailor in Hot Water — Monsieur Mallitte Photographs the Cone — Ascent of the Cone — Dr. Liebig's Account of the Island — The Slopes towards the Sea — Masses of Lava— A Stream of Hot Water — Dr. Liebig's Ascent of the Cone — The Cracks and Fissures in its Side — The Crater — Strata of Tufaceous Formation — Preceding Accounts of the Island — Probability of Sulphur near the Surface — Proposal to work the Cone — Account of Captain Blair's Settlement — His Survey of the Coast — Clearing and Cultivation of Chatham Island — Condition of the Settlers — A Storm off Cape Negris — Progress of the New Colony — Account of a Large Cave — Glutinous Birds' Nests — Fortification of the Settlement — Determination to Abandon the Settlement — Major Kyd's Report — Minute for the Abolition of the Settlement 144

Chapter V

Resources of the Island — A Long Pull — A Proposal — The Story of a Sailor — The Temperance Ship — The Recollections of Seamen — Favourite Officers — History of David Barclay, the Glasgow Boy — His Early Life — An Unexpected Calamity — The Keeper of a Lighthouse— A Venerable Benedict — "The Lower Female Orphan Asylum" — Candidates for Matrimony — The Matrimonial Parade — Selection of a Wife — David's Choice — The Bride at her Home — The Birth of a Son — A Melancholy Calamity — David's Funeral — The Arab Boatswain — His Native Airs — The Creole's Report — A Charge in the Dark — The False Alarm — The Filibuster's Somersault— Our Return to the Boat — Rutland Island — Mementoes of Former Storms — Christmas Amusements — The Sunderland Long- Boat — An Unexpected Attack — Bravery of the Author's Jemidar — On a Coral Reef — Arrival at Port Campbell — A Discussion with my Colleagues — Determination to return to Calcutta . .194

Chapter VI

Interview Island — Last Day of the Year — South Reef Island — Hostile Demonstration of the Natives — A French Volunteer — Preparations for Landing — The Cutters — Attacked by the Mincopies — A Truculent Chief — An Unexpected Volley — The Wounded — Escape of the Mincopies — Examination of the Wounded — Dr. Playfair's Request — A Young Andaman Captive — Coral Reefs — Danger to Ships — Visits to the Smaller Islands of the Groups — Steward's Sound — Sound Island — Deficiency of Water — The Andaman Archipelago —

Vlil CONTENTS.

Ross Island — Disappearance of all Vestige of its Former Occupation — The Cinque Islands —The Labyrinth Islands — Landfall Island, or the Cocos — Jack — An Account of Two Andaman Captives — A Strange Freak — The Fishermen at Sand Heads — Arrival in Calcutta — Reception by the Governor- General — Jack's Visit to Lord and Lady Canning — General Curiosity to see him — Jack Photographed — Anecdotes of his Residence in Calcutta — Attacked by Cholera — Sent back to the Andamans . . . . . . .238

Chapter VII

Manners and Customs of the Mincopie — Colonel Syme's Account of Two Andaman Females — Statements of a Brahmin Sepoy Mutineer — The act of Parturition — Parents and Children — Amusements of Children — The Mincopie Boys — The Marriage Union — Support of the Population — Their Migrations — Unsociable Disposition — Want of Religious Ideas — Mincopie Barbers — Medical Practice — Native Huts — Method of Maintaining Fires — Protection against the Mosquitoes — Fishing — Pigs and Pig -Hunts — Mincopie Migrations — Number of the Population — Manufactures — Formation of their Canoes and their Buoyancy — Management of their Canoes — The Paddles — Speed of the Canoes — The Mincopie Bows and Arrows — My Jemidar's Vengeance — The Harpoon — Water Vessels — Burial of the Dead — Ethnology of the Mincopies — Professor Owen's Paper — Their Osteological and Dental Characters — Geological and Geographical Observations . . . . . .291

ILLUSTRATIONS.

A Group of Andaman Islanders ... . Frontispiece

Remains of the Old Settlement, Port Cornwallis . to face page 100

Burmese Pioneers ^ 147

Andaman Islanders and Implements ... 315

Map. — The Great Andaman and Ajacent Islands.

ERRATUM.— Pp. 71 and 74, for anthropological read anthropophagical.

ADVENTURES AND RESEARCHES

AMONG

THE ANDAMAN ISLANDERS.

Chapter I. Introductory

General Description of the Andaman Archipelago — Savage Character of the Inhabitants — The Great Andaman — The Middle Andaman — The South Andaman — The Little Andaman Sighted — Brief Notices of some of the Early Discoverers of this Group — Narrative of two Mohammedan Travellers in the Ninth Century — Their Absurd Description of the Natives — General Belief that the Inhabitants of the Andamans were Cannibals — Mysterious Fate of the Crew of a Ship wrecked on the Coast — Andaman Expeditions against the Nicobar Islands — Capture and Captivity of an Andaman Boy — Expedition under the Command of Captain Blair of the Indian Navy — His Survey of the Great Andaman — His Report addressed to the Marquis Cornwallis — Selection of a Convict Settlement — The Coral Reefs — General Accuracy of Captain Blair's Survey — His Speculations as to the Origin of the Natives and their Peculiar Character — Colonel Colebrooke's Account of the Andamans — Discovery of one of his Manuscript Journals — Visit to Chatham Island — Constant Hostility of the Natives — Colonel Colebrooke's Paper in the Asiatic Researches — Occasional

B

2 THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS.

Notices — Account of the Andamans in the Calcutta "Monthly Register"— Port Cornwallis visited by Colonel Syme — Exaggerated Reports of the Climate — Port Cornwallis appointed the place of Rendezvous for the Fleet and Army in the First Burmese War — Reported Discovery of Gold — Death of Dr. Heifer — Peril of Two Troop Ships — Works on the Andamans — Occasion of the Present Work.

Near the centre of the track of one of the greatest highways of commerce, traversed by the ships of the most civilized and enlightened nations of modern times, lie a small group of islands, the name and position of which may be found in the map, although our knowledge of them is in general very limited. Forming an almost invisible dot on the map of the world, the civilization both of the East and of the West has passed them by without in any way affecting the condition of their inhabitants. In these islands man is probably still in the same condition in which he was when they were first settled — a state not only simple and primitive, but lower even than that of the natives of those remote islands of the sea that lie far beyond the bounds of civilization. Their inhabitants, acknowledge no law to restrain and guide them in life. Not only have they no knowledge of a supreme Being, but they are even destitute of such a rude system of religious faith as is generally found even amongst men in the most savage state. Their language is harsh and disagreeable, in an imperfect state of development, barely sufficient for the expression of their few and simple wants. Totally ignorant of agriculture, they have no means of making provision for the future, and must be satisfied with such fruits and herbs as the earth spontaneously produces, or with the shell-fish they pick up on

ANDAMAN ARCHIPELAGO. 3

the shore. Their habitations are of that primitive and simple construction which suffices for the necessities of savage tribes constantly moving from place to place.

The Andaman Archipelago, the group of islands to which we allude, is situated in the Bay of Bengal, near the meridian of 93 deg. E., and between the 10th and 15th parallels of North latitude. The largest and most important of the islands is that termed the Great Andaman, the configuration of which is remarkable in one respect, namely that, consisting of three great tracts of land, divided from each other by narrow passages, it forms apparently one great island. About twenty miles to the, southward is situated a second island, which, being considerably smaller than the other, is termed the Little Andaman. The surrounding waters are studded in many directions with numerous small islets, many of them exceedingly pretty and picturesque in appearance, rising as they do like beautiful oases in the wild waste of ocean that lashes their rocky shores. All of them are clothed with the richest tropical vegetation, which, from the level of the lowest swamp to the summit of the highest hill, grows in that unrestrained profusion in which Nature indulges in such climates. The entire group is surrounded in every direction by a natural fortress of coral reefs, which, extending for many miles, guards the approach to the islands, and in stormy weather, or in dark nights, renders it a matter of no little difficulty, and attended with considerable danger, to attempt to land upon them.

The inhabitants of the Andamans have always been considered one of the most savage races on the face of

b2

4 THE GREAT ANDAMAN.

the earth, whom civilization has yet found it impossible to tame, or even almost to approach. From the earliest records we have, down to the most recent descriptions of their appearance and character, all accounts agree in this unfavourable representation of them. With such an unenviable reputation, and the opportunities of obtaining an accurate knowledge of them having been hitherto so few and unfavourable, much has never been known with regard to their actual condition, their habits and modes of life, or their origin and peculiar characteristics. The study of the race to which they belong also involves one of those ethnolological problems which yet remain to be solved ; and although we may not be able to settle the question, it may at any rate be in our power, by means of the personal observations we have had an opportunity of making, to furnish some data by which a solution may be rendered easier to other inquirers.

In giving a more minute description of the Great Andaman, it may be observed that its western section is about forty-four miles in length, while its breadth may be computed at about an average of fourteen miles. In this part of the island is the magnificent harbour called Port Cornwallis, which, being locked in by land, affords a secure refuge for ships. The surface of this spacious natural harbour is diversified by several small islands, in one of which, in the year 1791, a place of refuge for such mariners as had the misfortune to be shipwrecked on that dreaded coast, and a burial settlement for those who sank under their hardship, were

THE MIDDLE ANDAMAN. 5

founded. They were discovered, however, to be in several respects unsuited for the purpose intended, and in the course of a few years were ultimately abandoned. The principal reasons for taking such a step, after a good deal of trouble and expense, were the extreme unhealthiness of the locality that had been selected, and the great additional expenditure that was requisite in order to supply those temporarily settled there with the various necessaries of life.

The Saddle Mountain is situated to the southward of Port Cornwallis, at the distance of a few miles. It rises to a considerable height, and forms the highest point to be seen in the whole group, its elevation being about 2,400 feet. On a favourable day, when the atmosphere is clear and cloudless, it is visible to the practised eye of the mariner at a distance of twenty leagues from the land.

The middle division, known as the Middle Andaman, is separated from the northern portion of the island by a narrow strait. It is somewhat larger than the latter, extending in length to fifty miles, and being fifteen miles in width. The narrow strait is quite innavigable, and on examining it we found that, at a distance of six miles from its eastern outlet, it became a mere mud marsh at low water. At its north-western extremity, on the other hand, it was ascertained that it opened into a fine broad expanse, forming an excellent and capacious harbour, with secure anchorage for ships, at the extremity of which is Interview Island, one of the largest detached islets of the whole group.

The South Andaman is forty -three miles in length, b THE SOUTH ANDAMAN.

and its average breadth about the same as that of the Middle division. On its eastern side there are two commodious harbours, to which the names of Port Meadows and Port Blair have been given. There are also two harbours on its western coast, distinguished as Port Mouat and Port Campbell. The strait by which the Southern Andaman is separated from the Middle is navigable throughout its whole extent; and near its western extremity is an extremely fine harbour, which has only recently been discovered by Major Haughton, the second superintendent of Port Blair. On the southern side of the South Andaman, from which it is separated by Macpherson's Straits, another small island is situated. It is known by the name of Rutland Island, and is nearly ten miles long, by four broad. The northern extremity of this island rises to a considerable height.

In the course of our voyage we sighted the Little Andaman, but after due consideration did not deem it advisable to land and examine it. In the first place, we knew that it contained no good harbours at which we could conveniently land, in order to carry on any explorations in the interior; and what weighed most with us, we were aware that it possessed none of those requisites of which we were specially in search, and was in no way adapted for a settlement to which convicts might be safely conveyed, and where they might be profitably employed.

Many conjectures, more or less probable, have been formed regarding the knowledge which the ancient geographers had of these islands. An opinion has been ex-

EARLY KNOWLEDGE OF THE ISLANDS. 7

pressed by some modern writers, that with the Nicobars and some smaller islands, they were included by Ptolemy under the general appellation of the insulce bonce fortunce. At that distant period, as now, they were supposed to be inhabited by a race of Cannibals, formidable not only to their enemies, but to all who approached their coasts — a sort of dreaded " anthropophagi, whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders. "

It is not, however, till a period long posterior to the time of Ptolemy, that we obtain any information regarding them that can be considered authentic. Probably the first historical account we have is that contained in the narrative of the travels and adventures of two Mohammedan wanderers, who, in the ninth century, traversed great part of India and China. Their description of the islands, which they may have personally visited in the course of their travels, although it is not certain, was afterwards translated, and is quoted in Pemberton's Collection of Voyages and Travels. Their narrative gives a remarkably striking, though doubtless exaggerated representation of the natives. Their appearance is described as something truly frightful. Black in complexion, and with coarse frizzled hair, their countenances had a hideous and ferocious aspect, the effect of which was heightened by the fierce glances of their dark restless eyes. Their feet are described as huge and misshapen, no less than a cubit in length. They had no sort of garments to cover themselves with, but went about perfectly naked. The food in which they chiefly

8 EXAGGERATED ACCOUNTS.

delighted was human flesh, which they tore up almost like wild beasts, and, ignorant of even the simplest form of cookery, devoured raw. It was believed that they possessed no kind of vessel on which they could venture out to sea, their intelligence being so limited that they had not then formed the notion of shaping for themselves canoes, even of the simplest form. This was considered a fortunate circumstance for the voyagers in these remote seas, for the natives might otherwise have lain in wait for them like pirates, or rather like the most ferocious beasts of prey, to supply themselves with stores of human flesh for the horrid banquet of blood in which it was their delight to indulge.

Ships were occasionally driven, by stress of weather, towards these unfrequented shores, or constrained to anchor near the coasts, for the purpose of procuring water ; and when such was the case, it was rarely that they were permitted to sail away again without leaving a greater or less number of their crews behind, in the hands of their merciless captors, for such as, ignorant of the danger they incurred, ventured to land, scarcely set their feet upon the shore, before they were captured and dragged into the interior to encounter the horrors of a fate, of which death was the least.

We should not of course judge, from this absurd account, that the narrators themselves had ever visited the islands, or that they had any personal knowledge of their inhabitants. Their exaggerated description is probably made up of the rumours which were at that period

MORE RECENT DESCRIPTIONS. 9

current in the Eastern seas — rumours which, doubtless with some foundation in truth, were, at the same time, so highly coloured by the terror or credulity of imperfect knowledge, as to render them in many respects unworthy of belief. The Andamanese were, no doubt, sufficiently formidable and horrible, but when the imagination draws pictures under the influence of terror, we must hesitate before we can accept its representation as a faithful one.

There is another account of the Andaman Islands and their inhabitants, which dates from the early part of the reign of William III. This was the time when Aurungzebe was ruling the Moguls, and when the new and old East India Companies were carrying on those struggles for monopoly which ended in the formation of that grand corporation of merchants, which, after founding and ruling, tant bien que mal, one of the mightiest of Eastern empires, has recently become historic. The maritime adventurers of England, excited by the wildest rumours of the exhaustless riches of India, then fitted out ship after ship, in which they undertook this distant voyage, to return to Europe laden with the shawls, the silks, and precious stones of the East.

As mariners became better acquainted with the navigation of these seas, the Andamans were more frequently visited, and our knowledge of them begins to be more trustworthy and accurate. The more recent accounts that have reached us, however, are scarcely more favourable to the inhabitants. In the long period that has elapsed since the account of the Mohammedan

10 LAMENTABLE SHIPWRECK.

travellers was given to the world, their moral and social state appears to have made little or no progress. They are still the same wild and untutored children of savage Nature. Invention, however, has so far been busy that they have learned to construct canoes, and sallying forth in them, to capture and slay all who are so unfortunate as to fall into their power. We have the same horrible accounts of their cannibal propensities. Their character is described as at once so fierce and fearless that they swim off to such vessels as approach their shores, and, regardless of the number of their crews, and their superiority in arms — not intimidated even by firearms, dealing death so mysteriously — they attack them boldly with their rude weapons, and maintain the unequal conflict as long as they have life and strength to inflict injury upon their enemies.

In Hamilton's account of the East Indies, allusion is made to the wreck of a ship, the crew of which, there is only too good ground for believing, were devoured by these untameable and merciless savages. This vessel, it appears, had set sail from Malacca, some time towards the latter part of the sixteenth century, and had made a prosperous voyage until she arrived in the vicinity of the Andamans ; when, as ill fortune would have it, she drifted into a powerful current, against the force of which it was vain to strive ; and being carried by the waves towards the threatening rocks that guarded that inhospitable shore, she was dashed upon them, and in a short time went to pieces. This Mid event happened in sight of another ship, by

ANDAMAN CAPTIVE. 1 1

which she had been accompanied during a considerable part of her voyage. The crew of the latter were spectators of the miserable fate that had befallen their fellowvoyagers ; but being themselves in difficulties, and all their skill and energy being required to preserve themselves from the same fate, they were unable to render any assistance either to the ship- wrecked vessel or its crew. As none of these unfortunate castaways were ever seen or heard of again, there can be little reason for doubting that if any of them succeeded in reaching the land, they must have met the fate of so many other unfortunate voyagers, who, driven by stress of weather, or ignorant of the dreadful reports circulated regarding the native's, had suffered themselves to fall into their hands. The narrator of this lamentable incident seems afterwards to have fallen in with a native of one of the Andaman Islands. Being at Acheen in the year 1694, he observed a man about forty years of age, whom he recognised as one of these " cannibal islanders/' He appears to have been able to converse with him, and to have been successful in obtaining some information regarding the customs of his native tribe. Among other things, he was told that, in order to obtain food for the gratification of their horrid appetite, the savage Mincopies were in the regular habit of fitting out expeditions against the Nicobar Islands. A considerable numberof the Andamanese having assembled at some appointed locality, in a large fleet of small prahus, they would then proceed against their more peaceful neighbours, numbers of whom they would mercilessly slaughter, and then carry off as many as they could

12 EXPEDITIONS AGAINST THE N1COBARS.

capture alive, reserving them for a more hideous and appalling fate.

The inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands being of a more gentle and peaceful character than their Andaman neighbours, they were generally overcome without much resistance. But on one occasion despair seems to have inspired them with a greater amount of resolution and vigour than they usually displayed, and they formed the determination to unite their scattered bands, and present a bold front to the invader. The result was, that the aggressors, unprepared for so heroic a resistance, were conquered in their turn, and no quarter being given to them by their victorious enemy, immense numbers of them were slain.

The Mincopie just mentioned, from whom this information was obtained, was then a boy of about ten or twelve years of age, but he had already been accustomed to follow his father on the warlike expeditions in which he took a part. On this occasion, along with several other prisoners, he was captured and carried into captivity, his tender years alone saving him from the death which was the lot of so many of his fellow-islanders. He was kept about four or five years at Nicobar, being detained all that time in a state of slavery. Ultimately having been taken to Acheen, he was there delivered into the hands of new masters, who gave a quantity of cloth, knives, and tobacco in exchange for him.

A considerable change now took place in his position. His new masters being Mussulmans, they were anxious to convert him to their faith; and, having instructed

AN ANDAMAN ADVENTURER. 13

him in its principles, he gratified them ere long by acknowledging his conversion to Mohammedanism. The master whom he served was so pleased at this, and with his general character, that on his death he left orders that he should be manumitted, and he was accordingly once more a freeman. A very natural desire now arose in his mind. It was long since he had seen his native land, and his kindred, from whom he had been separated by the fortune of war. He was anxious, therefore, to return to the Andamans, again to renew the ties that had been so long broken. As the season was favourable — for in the early part of the year the weather is always moderate and settled in these latitudes*— he resolved at once to gratify an inclination which every day became more intense.

Few preparations were necessary before venturing to sea. The distance between the Andamans and the Nicobars is not great, the latter lying about seventy-two miles to the south. The nearest of the Andamans is said to be perfectly visible from a small island lying near Acheen. At this small island he embarked in a boat or canoe. Being alone, he had considerable difficulties to contend with ; all of which, however, he successively surmounted, and soon experienced the joy of finding himself ashore on the Lesser Andaman. To the Andamanese, who had been drawn to the beach by his arrival on their island, he made himself known, and being recognised by his friends and relations, he was joyfully acknowledged. As he had long been given up for lost, the supposition being that he had perished in the fight

14 RETURN TO HTS NATIVE ISLAND.

in which he was taken captive, the welcome with which he was received was so much the more joyous.

His countrymen, of course, were eager to learn the history of his adventures during his long absence from among them ; and as he had not forgotten his native tongue, though he was so young when taken prisoner, he was able to gratify their curiosity. He also endeavoured to communicate to them some portion of the knowledge he had acquired during his residence among a comparatively much more civilized race. His countrymen, as we have already remarked, were very ignorant and degraded. Their ideas were few, and their knowledge as limited as it could well bje. They were totally unacquainted with spiritual truth of any kind. They had no kind of worship, not even the most gross, being entirely ignorant of the being and nature of a God. He accordingly endeavoured to communicate to them that idea of a Supreme Being which he had learned from the faith he had adopted. But their minds were obscured by long ignorance. No ray of light could penetrate the darkness in which their undeveloped intellects were shrouded; and at last he had to give up all attempts at instruction of any kind, as an utterly hopeless task.