260 The.Ca?idians.
neglect,&f. superstitiaiisJrites.haye, according to the .decree, of the
»priests, forfeited „their cask are-no.t .only'-condemned .to pnjamy
;thfhisbNesj-- but their ichildte®. ajjd;- childrens’ children to al 1 ger
iterations are supposed to , share .'in. the guilt and .contamina-
-tion. No ƒ lone f-aS: another'cast .will internjaro-y j^ith th em ^ fh ey
are allowed to: exercise no trade oi* profession, nor to approach
;a,ny of the human race hut the -partners .of, their misery; nay
if they even by. accident touch any thing, it is reckoned polluted
and accursed. .As-1,they.' are not allowed to work, they are
obliged to beg continually for sustenance, and thus. from genera-
tio n to- generation become a dead weight on; society 1 . As these
wretched- people are by the iron,-sceptre of superstition already
degraded to a state which cannot be exeee!ded>?in?y|to^^and - inr
fa-inyi; and :cannot by any. good, c'onducb. ever r^ f^ feg tM eSf^n -
ditionyso; they .have no restraint to »prevent them.rfojftn5being
•guilty .of- tire most -detestable, crimes .-j I t ’-woul^cp^inlyi bp^an
object worthy the attention <of any government to -.attempt converting
this lost body;,of men to' spine useful purpose; and it is
plain that the dispelling their superstitious notions, b y the intro-
duction. .of another system.: of. religion,; must be the first step
.towards effecting this salutary improvement. -
These -people of no, cast arch obliged to pay thg0 oxes.t- epic, .the
other Candians ■ as' .much respect and reverence '.as eastern servility.
ordains the latter to pay to the king.: As tradition among
barbarous nations never | wants a legend to ; account for. the
origin of every .institution, the cruelty exercised towards the
outcasts is justified, by tlie recital of a crime said to have been an-
•ciently committed by them. I t is told-., that this; race; of?people
once, formed a particular. cast, who were employed as the king’s
■hunters, that upon - some provocation, they supplied his. , table
i 3
with human flesh • in /tnatfp' upon, tllfe
dbeoverv^pt' tins atrUudiJs^ad;. th e 5 kmgf doomed ' them* to 1
outc^stwmmi 'so< lrp^Tot' J u i '1 Jus Yipdiculdu'^fabld' I meh-
tion'yn.erely?, to she wO, the ^ cten t i Am which 'fene nat A e s||p “6the
island’- imagine’ ,Tp;e1 king egtffilpdl’r a ’ cmrylns atM iority^i
. The n a tu r e ^® |^ ’‘,gQvernmenk and tf^w^ilitary^ and,; ciyilvfes-
fablishmi■nts'fform a a cry considerable part of wlfal,lb "'most ic-
markable ; «among the. 'Cffujli^ns; and;, , Jp e , mbsSf’ dm,-'"’
g o ija n t. lp.pic j.of jenquiiy fo1 I 'si ial k fhiydfpre,„civk
deavour to|pfe§entmiy ^eatlersl^th this ^Bj|i©t,