prevalence of supplicating their gods by human sacrifices, when going
against their enemies, as we see done by the Otaheitans, and on other
occasions. The Roman history, in its early state especially, abounds
in like examples, as every reader will be prepared to prove. The
practice was shockingly prevalent amongst the Carthaginians and other
inhabitants of Africa. The writer above quoted, specifies the works
which mention it, and has enumerated the authorities for asserting the
same of a great many other ancient people, as the Getae, Leucadians,
Goths, Gauls, Heruli, Britons, Germans; besides the Arabians, Cretans,
Cyprians, Rhodians, Phocians, and the inhabitants of Chios, Lesbos,
Tenedos, and Pella. The northern nations, without exception, are
chargeable with the same enormity. Of this, satisfactory evidence has
been adduced by Dr Magee from various authors, as Mr Thorkelin in his
Essay on the Slave Trade, Mallet, in his work on Northern Antiquities,
&c. And it is well known that the evil existed amongst the Mexicans,
Peruvians, and other people of America, in a degree surpassing its
magnitude in any other country. The perusal of the present narrative,
and of other accounts of voyages, will evince the continuance of the
practice throughout more recent people. On the whole then, we assert,
that the fact of the universality of human sacrifice amongst the
various nations of the world is perfectly well authenticated. Let
us next say a word or two respecting its origin and meaning. Here
we shall find it necessary to consider the origin and meaning of
sacrifice in general, as it is self-evident that the notion of
sacrifice is previous to the selection of the subjects for it, that
of human beings differing only in degree of worth or excellence from
those of any other kind. What then could induce mankind universally to
imagine, that sacrifices of animals could be agreeable to those beings
whom they judged superior to themselves, and the proper objects of
religious adoration? Reason gives no sanction to the practice; on the