For the same reason a high-caste Brahman will neither kill anything himself, nor will he eat anything that has succumbed to a violent death, be it flesh, fish, or fowl. Life to him is sacred in all its many forms, for therein may reside the troubled spirit of a departed relative. An old friend of mine, a Brahman of exceeding uprightness and more than ordinary intelligence, constantly upbraided me with the sinful cruelty of shooting and fishing. Out of my great respect for him, I bore his harangues with a patient shrug, worthy of Shylock, knowing full well that any attempt to argue the point would be worse than useless; for it would be easier to train an old oak, high-top bald with dry antiquity, as an espalier or cordon, than to influence such a one to the extent of “the twentieth part of one poor scruple,” the more so, that he was consistently acting up to his own belief. The children of Nature who hunted the buffalo in the prairies of the Far West do not appear to have entertained any serious idea of transmigration; they looked death boldly in the face, believing it to be a mere translation to happier hunting-grounds. The Incas of Peru worshipped everything that appeared in the vault of heaven, including sun, moon, stars, lightning, and rainbow, and their worship was as devout as it was original. The moon was regarded as the spouse of him from whom she derives her light; Venus was her attendant, and the remaining heavenly bodies ranked as inferior deities. But it was to the sun that their attention was principally directed; in his honour a temple was erected at the seat of government, wherein sat enthroned his image, on which his own rays impinged with great effect. It is scarcely to be wondered at that the idea of transmigration took such hold upon a considerable section of the human race, especially if one considers the climatic and physical conditions under which Eastern nations have existed throughout all ages. We go out there full of life and spirits, and manage to derive some compensating pleasure out of riding, driving, sport, and sundry national games. To the native, however, life is “tedious as a twice-told tale;” essentially apathetic beyond a certain monotonous routine, he never ceases to wonder how we can find pleasure in such physical exercise; and death itself can have but few terrors for those who only endure existence in the hope of something better. Who knows whether, were it not for more smiling conditions of existence, added to the aspirations of a higher faith, we too might not welcome the prospect of entering another state?