For instance, if any happened to be
affected with a fever, little anxiety was manifested to discover its
cause, or to adopt rational measures for its cure; it must no doubt have
been occasioned by some evil spirit residing in the body, or
influencing, in some mysterious way, the fortunes of the sufferer. That
influence could be counteracted only by certain magical rites; hence the
observance of those rites soon obtained a permanent establishment in the
East. Even at the present day, many uncivilized people hold that all
nature is filled with genii, of which some exercise a beneficent, and
others a destructive power. All evils with which man is afflicted, are
considered the work of these imaginary beings, whose favour must he
propitiated by sacrifices, incantations, and songs. If the Greenlander
be unsuccessful in fishing, the Huron in hunting, or in war; if even the
scarcely half reasoning Hottentot finds every thing is not right in his
mind, body, or fortune, no time must be lost before the spirit be
invoked. After the removal of some present evil, the next strongest
desire in the human mind is the attainment of some future good.
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