Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/34

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from dread of his anger; the good spirit they consider too merciful to injure them, and plead this as a sufficient reason for neglecting to adore him.

“At their funerals they are accustomed to inter, with the body of the deceased, his paddle and harpoon, supposing that he will need them to provide sustenance in another world.”[1] These slight sketches comprise all the information I have been able to gain of the inhabitants of the Mosquito shore.

Such a people cannot be uninteresting to the Christian philanthropist. Nations, still darker, and more besotted, have been visited by the messengers of Jesus, and blessed with the tidings of a Saviour's love. May it not then be hoped, that the time is not far distant, when the echoes of these hills shall join in transmitting from land to land, the sacred song, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bring the glad tidings of salvation.”

  1. For this, and one or two other facts, the author is indebted to “Sketches of Honduras.” a series of papers published in the Honduras Gazette.