I endeavoured to clear up this fraud to my man Friday; and told him that the pretence of their old men going up to the mountains to say O to their god Benamuckee was a cheat; and their bringing word from thence what he said was much more so; that if they met with any answer, or spake with any one there, it must be with an evil spirit; and then I entered into a long discourse with him about the devil, the origin of him, his rebellion against God, his enmity to man, the reason of it, his setting himself up in the dark parts of the world to be worshipped instead of God, and as God, and the many stratagems he made use of to delude mankind to their ruin; how he had a secret access to our passions and to our affections, and to adapt his snares to our inclinations, so as to cause us even to be our own tempters, and run upon our destruction by our own choice.
Intenté aclarar este fraude a mi siervo Viernes y le dije que la pretensión de sus ancianos de ir a las montañas a decir «¡Oh!» a su dios Benamuckee era una impostura; así como las palabras que supuestamente les atribuían, lo eran aún más; y que si hallaban alguna respuesta o hablaban con alguien en aquel lugar, debía ser con un espíritu maligno. Luego hice una larga disertación acerca del diablo, su origen, su rebelión contra Dios, su odio hacia los hombres, la razón de dicho odio, su afán por hacerse adorar en las regiones más oscuras del mundo en lugar de Dios, o como si lo fuera, y la infinidad de artimañas que utilizaba para inducir a la humanidad a la ruina.