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earth, according to the powers of the fpirit wherewith I have endued thee; and do thou, Biﬁnoo, pro- ceed to execute thy part.

" And when Birmah heard the command, which the mouth of the eternal o n e had uttered, he {lraightway formed a leaf of éeelle, and he ﬂoated on the lull: leaf over the furface of the waters; and the children of Modoo and Kytoo ﬂed before him, and vanifhed from his prelcnce.

"And when the agitation of the waters had fubﬁded, by the powers of the fpirit of Birmah, Biflnoo ilraightways transformed himfelf into a migbg» 5cm- *, and defcend- ing into the abyfs of the waters, he brought up the earth on his tufks. Then fpontaneouflyi ifiiued from him, a mfg/Jr] tarloi/t’ 1-, and a xii l)!’ natal.

gLJBii/ltnoo put the fnake erect upon the back of the tortoife, and placed the earth upon the bead of the fnakc.

“ And all things were created and formed by Birmah in the eighth planet of punifhment and probation, even the earth, accord- ing to the powers of the fpirit wherewith the eternal on E had end ued him.

t‘ And Biflnoo took upon him the fuperintendence and charge of all that was created and formed by Birmah in the eighth planet of the earth; and he cherilhed and pre/erwed them, as the words of the eternal 0 N 5 had directed and com- manded.”

By the tranﬂation of thefe frag- ments of the Shalla, or fcnptures

ANNUAL REGISTER, 1766.

of the Gentoos, it appears that a metempfychoﬁs is the fundamental principle of their religion. They,

fuppofe that the bodies of women-

are animated by the molt benign and lealt culpable of the apoﬁate angels; that the fpirits of infants who die fuddenly, are immediate- ly, by the fpecial favour of God, received into the bofom of 397mm the preferver, and conveyed to the ﬁrﬁ region of puriﬁcation. That the fudden death of adults is a mark of divine difpleafure, as the term of probation is cut lhort; and that old age is therefore a bleﬁing in man, as the term of probation is prolonged; but they believe that longevity in brutes is a mark of the great delinquency of the fpirits that animate them, becaufe they are the longer detained from their chief ﬁate of probation in man; and yet they fuppofe the general warfare that is eltablifhed

by a necefﬁty of nature among the

animal world, the fubﬁﬁence of one animal depending upon the de- ﬁruéition of another, t0 be a Pu. nifhment appointed by the Su- preme Being for the molt guilty of the apoltate angels, who are thus made his inﬂruments of vengeance to each other; and thus they con- demn the praélice of eating ani- mal food in mankind, as injurious to the animals that are deilroyed,

(and difpleafing in the higheﬁ dc,

gree to God. It feems that iif the longevity of brutes is a curfe, the cutting them of? prematurely is a bleﬂing. The Gentoos notion of a metempfychoﬁs would therefore have furniihed them with a better‘

* The Gentoos fymbol ofﬂrengtb. i" The Gentoos fymbol ofjfabilit)’. I The Gentoos fymbol of ‘ta/ﬁlam-

refol ution