The whole nation was sometimes assembled at this
solemnity; and hundreds of corpses, brought from their temporary
resting-places, were inhumed in one common pit. From this hour the
immortality of their souls began." This evidently implies a period
during which the souls were wandering at a distance from the place of
their eternal repose. Does the following passage throw any light upon
it? The reader must decide the point for himself. "Most of the
traditions," continues the same writer, "agree, however, that the
spirits, on their journey heavenward, were beset with difficulties and
perils. There was a swift river which must be crossed on a log that
shook beneath their feet, while a ferocious dog opposed their passage,
and drove many into the abyss. This river was full of sturgeons and
other fish, which the ghosts speared for their subsistence. Beyond was
a narrow path between moving rocks which each instant crushed together,
grinding to atoms the less nimble of the pilgrims who essayed to pass."
[1] A vestige of the same belief seems to crop out in a custom of some
of the tribes of Central Africa, as appears from the remarks of a
recent traveller. "When a death occurs," says Major Serpa Pinto, "the
body is shrouded in a white cloth, and, being covered with an ox-hide,
is carried to the grave, dug in a place selected for the purpose.
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