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from their original Idolatry, of which they have some, is certainly the custom of Consecrating Meat, money &c, to the Devil, whoom they call Satan; this is done either in cases of dangerous sickness, when they by these means try to appease the devil who they beleive to be the cause of all sickness, and make him spare the diseasd mans life, or in consequence of Dreams. If any man is restless and dreams much for two or three nights, he immediately Concludes that Satan has taken that method of laying his Commands upon him, which if he neglects to fullfill he will certainly suffer sickness or death as a punishment for his inattention; consequently he begins to Labour over in his brains all the circumstances of his dream, and try his utmost to put some explanation or other upon them; in this if he fails, he sends for the Cawin or Preist who assists him to interpret them. Sometimes Satan orders him to do this or that or the contrary, but generaly he wants either meat or money, which is always sent him, and hung up on a little plate made of Cocoa nut leaves on the bough’s of a tree near the river.
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol. 2) 497, February 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-423.html