Heap of Earth ending in a Point like a Pyramid, upon which they place the Arms used by by the dead King, furrounded with a great malittle Figures of Earth, which are, as it were, the tutelary Gods that take care of them.

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As to their Religion, our Author tells us, that they are all Idolaters, tho' they use Circumcifion; and that the chief Deity of the Country is a huge Serpent, which (as the Inhabitants have by Tradition) coming over to them from thofe of the neighbouring Kingdom of Ardra, when the two Armies were ready to join Battle, encouraged them fo, that they obtained a compleat Victory over their Enemies. In acknowledgement of this Favour, they foon after built him a fpacious Temple, with many Courts, Porches, and Apartments, furnished with the richeft Furniture they could purchase; and appointed, befides a High-Priest, a great many others of both Sexes, to be employed Night and Day in the Service and Worfhip of their fuppofed Divinity. Our Author tells us, that even the most fenfible amongst the Negroes are perfuaded, that the Serpent they worship now, is the fame that faved their Forefathers from the Oppreffion of the King of Ardra. He adds, that there is a kind of Serpents amongst them believed to be the Offspring of that first, by reafon of its Good Qualities and Love to Mankind, it being exceedingly fond both of the Whites and Negroes, protecting them against other Species of very venomous Serpents, with whom it is always at open War, as if it were his Duty to free Mankind from fo pernicious an Enemy. Upon this Account, this Creature is fo favoured by the Natives, that it is an unpardonable Crime amongst them to do it the leaft

Harm,

Harm, which if a Negroe were guilty of, he would be murdered, or burnt alive upon the fpot, his Wives, Children, and Goods confifcated: if a White, he would be torn to Pieces by the Mob, from whose first Fury, tho' he fhould find means to fave himself, yet the Attempt would prove very expenfive to his Nation. To this purpose, he tells us the following Story, which few will believe; viz. That an Englishman having found one of thefe Serpents in his Bed, as he was lately landed, and therefore not at all acquainted with its good Qualities, or the bad Confequences that attend the ufing it ill, killed the Serpent, and threw it into a Corner by his Room. Tho' this happened in the Night-time without any one being privy to it, yet in lefs than half a Quarter of an Hour after, the whole Place was alarmed, and the Factory furrounded by the Mob, crying out in a dreadful manner, that a wicked Man had killed their God. Upon this, the Deicide was immediately conveyed for Refuge to the French Factory, and the dead God privately buried. After this the Director endeavoured to appease the Mob, by denying the Fact, and allowing the Priests to come in and fearch the Houfe, who went directly to the Place where their God was buried, as if they themselves had interred him; they were however prevailed upon by rich Presents, to be filent till fuch Time as the King was acquainted by. the English of the Danger they were in, which he no fooner had notice of, than he commanded the Populace to retire to their Houses, declaring that he referved to himself the Cognizance and Punishment of that Crime. The Serpent was afterwards buried by the Priefts with great Pomp and Solemnity, and the Author of that facri

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facrilegious Murder clear'd by the King's Sentence, not without great Prefents, from all Guilt, as not being as yet well acquainted with the Deities of the Country.

OUR Author gives us here a very diverting Account of the Religious Ceremonies that are in ufe among the Negroes of the Kingdom of Juda. He tells us, amongst others, that a certain number of young Maids is yearly confecrated to the great Serpent, and that they are not allowed to marry a Man before they have married the Serpent which Ceremony is performed by their being let down into a dark Hole, from whence they are not drawn up, but after an Hour's Converfation with the Serpent, who, on that Occafion, takes human Shapes, and is believed to fanctify them against their future Marriage, which they do not care, after that, to put long off, left inftead of Children, they fhould bring forth young Serpents. He adds, that fuch as have been confecrated to the Serpent, and brought up in Monafteries, prove moftly very bad Wives, that they are proud, lazy, unruly, &c. which are the good Qualities that usually attend a Nunnery Education. Neither dare their Husbands reprimand, threaten, or chastize them, they having all the Priests and Priesteffes of the Country on their fide, who would make the poor Husband foon repent it.

AFTER this, our Author gives us an Account of the King's Revenues, which are very confiderable, and from what chiefly he draws them; of the manner of Fighting ufed by the Negroes of this Kingdom, their Forces, Arms, &c. of their Temper, and Manners; of the Nature of the Soil, and how they till it; of the Trees, Fruits, Plants, and Herbs; of the tame

and

and wild Beafts, Birds, &c. What he relates of one Species of Birds is, if true, very furprizing, viz. that at every Moulting they change entirely their Colour, fo that fuch as are one Year black, become red the next, then blue, afterwards green, and at laft yellow, which Colours they have always very lively, and without any Mixture of one another. The Kingdom of Juda, and likewise that of Ardra, have been of late fubdued by Dada King of Dabuma, whose Dominions are many Leagues distant from the Sea Coast.

IN defcribing the Manners of those of the Kingdom of Ardra, our Author tells us, that the greatest Kindness they can fhew a Friend, is to drink with him Mouth to Mouth, that is, out of the fame Cup, and at the fame Time. This is, as it were, an Oath, and folemn Engagement to maintain a perpetual Friendship with him; but how it can be done, is what we leave the Reader to find out.

F. LABAT has annexed to the Chevalier des Marchais's Voyage to the Coast of Guinea, that of the Fathers Grillet and Bechamel Jefuits, in 1674, who were the first that ventured to preach the Chriftian Religion to the favage Acoquas, and likewise a Letter of F. Lombard, Head of all those Miffions, written in 1723; wherein he gives an Account of his Voyage to the Savages called Galabis, and of the Method he has followed in converting great Numbers of them to the Chriftian Religion. The whole Work is enriched with a great many Maps by M. Danville, and Copper-Plates by M. de la Haye. The Reader will find at the end of the last Volume a Dialogue in French, and in the Language of the Negroes, for the use of those who trade to Guinea,

AR

ARTICLE XV.

Supplement à l'Hiftoire des Guerres Civiles de Flandre fous Philippe II. Roi d'Espagne, du Pere Famien Strada, & d'autres Auteurs; contenant les Procés criminels de Lamorald Comte d'Egmont, & de Philippe de Montmorency, Comte de Hornes, aux quels le Duc d'Albe a fait trancher la Tête a Bruffelle.

That is,

A Supplement to the History of the Civil Wars of Flanders under Philip II. King of Spain, written by Famianus Strada and other Authors; containing the Trials of Lamorald Count of Egmont, and Philip de Montmorency Count of Horn, beheaded in Bruffels by Order of the Duke of Alva. Two Volumes 8vo. Amfterdam 1729.

TH

HO' the Civil Wars of Flanders have been copioufly defcribed by many able Writers, yet the Reader will find in this Piece feve→ ral new and very curious Circumstances relating to that Subject, and especially to the Trials of the Counts of Egmont and Horn, of which we have here all the Particulars. The whole is drawn from an authentic Manufcript (as the Editor fuggefts in his Preface, tho' he has not

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thought