Commoro, laughing—“ Well, how do you account
for it ? . I t is a thing I cannot understand; it occurs to
me every night.”
“ The mind is independent of the body,- — the
actual body can be fettered, but the mind is uncontrollable
; the body will die and will become dust, or
be eaten by vultures, but the spirit will exist for ever.”
Commoro,—M Where will the spirit live ?”
“ Where does fire live ? . Cannot you produce a
fire * by rubbing two sticks together, yet you see not
the fire in the wood. Has not that, fire, that lies
harmless and unseen in the sticks, the power to consume
the whole country ? Which is the stronger, the
small stick that first produces the fire, or the fire
itself ? So is the spirit the element within the body,
as the element of fire exists in the stick; the element
being superior to the substance.”
Commoro.—“ H a ! Can you explain what we frequently
see at night when lost in the wilderness. ? I
have myself been lost, and wandering in the dark, I
have seen a distant fire; upon approaching, the fire
has vanished, and I have been unable, to trace the
cause—nor could I find the spot.”
“ Have you no idea of the existence, of spirits
The natives always produce fire by rubbing two sticks together;;
superior to either man or beast ? Have you no fear
of evil except from bodily causes ?”
Commoro.— “ I am afraid of elephants and other
animals when in the jungle at night, but of nothing
else.”
“ Then you believe in nothing; neither in a good nor
evil spirit! And you believe that when you die it will
be the end of body and, spirit; that you are like
other animals; and that there is no distinction
between man and beast; both disappear, and end at
death ?”
Commoro.jspe Of course they do.”
“ Do you see no difference in good and bad actions ?”
Commoro.—“ Yes, there are good and bad in men
and beasts.”
“ Do you think that a good man and a bad must
share the same fate, and alike die, and end ?”
Commoro.—“ Yes; what else can they do? How
can they help dying ? Good and bad all die.”
K Their bodies perish, but their spirits remain ; the
good in happiness, the bad in misery. If you have
no belief in a future state, why should a man be good 1
Why should he not be bad, if he can prosper by
wickedness ?” ' .
Commoro.—“ Most people are bad; if they are
strong they take from the weak. The good people are