The human species

by A. de Quatrefages

It is true that, after the Great Spirit, we find the Red-Skins believing in an immense number of Manitous, one of whom, inhabiting the centre of the earth, is a kind of demon. But these beings, whether good or evil, although possessing an influence over the destiny of man, have nothing of the divine character. They are nothing more than a kind of genii, fairies, ogres, etc., more or less resembling those mentioned in Oriental tales, and all absolutely dependent upon the Great Spirit. The latter alone is omnipotent, while the evil spirit is weak and his power is limited.

The belief in another life was, moreover, universal amongst these populations. Their ideas upon the other world, the transmigration of souls, the multiplicity of existences were vague enough; but in several legends, collected either by the first travellers, or in the present century by Schoolcraft, we find, given in the most explicit manner, the doctrine of recompense promised to the good, and the torments which await the wicked.

The Algonquins and Mingwes deserve to be regarded as monotheists as much as any other people we can mention, much more so than the Arabs before Mahomet. There is, moreover, no reason to think that these spiritual beliefs were due to the exceptional intelligence of an isolated individual who played the part of prophet after the manner of Mahomet. They have all the characters of a spontaneous manifestation of the instincts of the race itself. Now this fact is the more remarkable, as these Red-Skins, almost exclusively hunters, had scarcely advanced beyond the lowest stages of the social scale.

The Negroes of Guinea, much superior to the Algonquins and Mingwes, from a civilized point of view, are far inferior to them in religion. Still, to speak only of their fetishism, would be doing them a great injustice. This is, in reality, only a form of superstition more or less intimately associated with a basis of far nobler beliefs. Here, again, the greater number of observers have stopped at what was immediately presented to the eye; others, however, have fortunately been found who have looked beneath these first appearances.

Numerous evidences, too unanimous to admit of doubt, prove that from Cape Verd to Cape Lopez the inhabitants believe in a Supreme God, who has created all existing things. The natives of Dahomey hold that this God is himself subject to a more elevated being, who, say these Negroes, is perhaps the God of the Whites. In most cases, it is true, this supreme Deity is regarded as governing the universe through the agency of his ministers; but often, also, direct intervention is attributed to him. Petitions, thanks, and prayers, are then addressed to him, with the formula of some of which we are acquainted. In that which D’Avezac received from the lips of Oche Fecoue, the Yebous request Obbâ-el-Orum (King of Heaven) to preserve them from illness and death. They add: “Orissa (God) give me prosperity and wisdom.”

We find that almost all the natives of Guinea, besides their good God, had their evil spirit, also very powerful. Oblations are offered to appease him. The Negroes often think that they see or hear him in the night. We know too well, however, that the shores of Guinea are not the only place where such visions have been seen in imagination.

Then come the inferior gods, very numerous, and sometimes arranged in a hierarchy. It is they who are sent into Fetishes to watch over and protect man. The Fetish, according to the evidence of devout priests and Negroes, is not the God himself, but only the abode of the God.

The natives of Guinea all believe in another life, but have very different ideas upon this subject. In general they regard it as almost similar to the present. Some have a confused idea of metempsychosis, or think they are born again in a child. The Issinois believe in the immortality of the soul, which, on leaving this earth, is born again in another world, situated in the centre of the globe, and vice versa. This is almost the alternating life, as conceived by Hyppolyte Renaud, a distinguished artillery officer, and one of those thinkers who have felt the want of an explanation of the destiny of man.

The idea of retribution is clearly defined by many Guinean tribes. In the opinion of many, the wise and the intelligent become the messengers of the gods; the wicked are drowned in passing a certain stream, and die for ever or become demons. Others hold that the souls of those who have led evil lives go to the evil spirit, but can be redeemed by oblations offered to the gods. Here, then, we find the Negro possessing the idea of purgatory and of redemption, together with that of hell.

VII. I think I have said enough thoroughly to establish a fact independent of all hypothesis, and which seems to me to be of serious importance. It is that we often find ideas of an extremely elevated nature, and resembling in a singular manner those which distinguish the great religions, existing in the small, though obscured by other notions of an inferior nature. Again, that we must almost everywhere, probably everywhere, distinguish religion from superstition. But before we can, in this case, recognise the gold in the midst of the surrounding dross, time is required, serious study, and a mind entirely free from prejudice.