The first, and lord of all the others, is Parabrama; that is to say, a most perfect substance, who has his being from himself, and who gives being to the rest.  This god being a spirit free from matter, and desirous to appear once under a sensible figure, became man; by the only desire which he had to shew himself, he conceived a son, who came out at his mouth, and was called Maiso.  He had two others after him, one of them whose name was Visnu, was born out of his breast, the other called Brama, out of his belly.  Before he returned to his invisibility, he assigned habitations and employments to his three children.  He placed the eldest in the first heaven, and gave him an absolute command over the elements and mixed bodies.  He lodged Visnu beneath his elder brother, and established him the judge of men, the father of the poor, and the protector of the unfortunate.  Brama had for his inheritance the third heaven, with the superintendance of sacrifices, and other ceremonies of religion.  These are the three deities which the Indians represent by one idol, with three heads growing out of one body, with this mysterious signification, that they all proceed from the same principle.  By which it may be inferred, that in former times they have heard of Christianity; and that their religion is an imperfect imitation, or rather a corruption of ours.

They say that Visnu has descended a thousand times on earth, and every time has changed his shape; sometimes appearing in the figure of a beast, sometimes of a man, which is the original of their pagods, of whom they relate so many fables.

They add, that Brama, having likewise a desire of children, made himself visible, and begot the Brachmans, whose race has infinitely multiplied.  The people believe them demi-gods, as poor and miserable as they are.  They likewise imagine them to be saints, because they lead a hard and solitary life; having very often no other lodging than the hollow of a tree, or a cave, and sometimes living exposed to the air on a bare mountain, or in a wilderness, suffering all the hardships of the weather, keeping a profound silence, fasting a whole year together, and making profession of eating nothing which has had life in it.

But after all, there was not perhaps a more wicked nation under the canopy of heaven.  The fruit of those austerities which they practice in the desart, is to abandon themselves in public to the most brutal pleasures of the flesh, without either shame or remorse of conscience.  For they certainly believe, that all things, how abominable soever, are lawful to be done, provided they are suggested to them by the light which is within them.  And the people are so infatuated with them, that they believe they shall become holy by partaking in their crimes, or by suffering any outrage from them.