where they leave it. As to what ceremonies of prayer, &c.,
they use on this occasion, I know not particularly, only that they
invite the devil very kindly to it, assuring him that it is very good,
and well dressed, and begging him to accept it. Now these woods are so
full of monkeys, that if never so much was left at night, they would
devour it before morning, which these ignorant creatures believe to be
eaten by the devil; and if the person recovers, they think themselves
very much obliged to him for his civility and good nature, and, by way
of thanks, they send him more; but if the person dies, then they revile
against him, calling him a cross ill-natured devil, that he is often a
deceiver, and that he has been very ungrateful in accepting the present,
and then killing their friend: In fine, they are very angry with him."
He mentions some other ways of enchanting away distempers, where such
offerings to the devil are no inconsiderable part of the
prescription.--E.]

But they have another superstitious opinion that is still more
unaccountable. They believe that women, when they are delivered of
children, are frequently at the same time delivered of a young
crocodile, as a twin to the infant: They believe that these creatures
are received most carefully by the midwife, and immediately carried down
to the river, and put into the water. The family in which such a birth
is supposed to have happened constantly put victuals into the river for
their amphibious relation, and especially the twin, who, as long as he
lives, gets down to the river at stated seasons, to fulfil this
fraternal duly, for the neglect of which it is the universal opinion
that he will be visited with sickness or death. What could at first
produce a notion so extravagant and absurd, it is not easy to guess,
especially as it seems to be totally unconnected with any religious
mystery, and how a fact which never happened, should be pretended to
happen every day, by those who cannot be deceived into a belief of it by
appearances, nor have any apparent interest in the fraud, is a problem
still more difficult to solve. Nothing however can be more certain than
the firm belief of this strange absurdity among them, for we had the
concurrent testimony of every Indian who was questioned about it, in its
favour. It seems to have taken its rise in the islands of Celebes and
Boutou, where many of the inhabitants keep crocodiles in their families;
but however that be, t