426 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY., 



The first inhabitants of this world were divine beings. They pri- 

 marily inhabited the seventh heaven, but at one time they lapsed into 

 war one against the other. The good conquered; and the wicked 

 were forced to quit heaven, and they installed themselves upon the 

 summit of Summer. Nevertheless, the contest begun in heaven al- 

 ways continued, and the number of fugitives increased so that they 

 occupied all the islands which surrounded the mountain Summer. At 

 the commencement of their terrestrial life, they preserved their divine 

 qualities. Thus, for instance, they each lived 80,000 years, their faces 

 were luminous, they possessed wings wherewith to fly, they went with- 

 out food, etc. But one day there appeared upon the earth a certain 

 fruit named shime, which was as sweet and as white as sugar. As 

 soon as men tasted it, they lost all their qualities of perfection ; the 

 brilliancy of their faces disappeared, their wings fell off, they felt the 

 need of nourishment, and the duration of their lives sank to 10,000 

 years only. 



As long as men had luminous faces, there was no reason or neces- 

 sity for the existence of the sun and moon. But, as soon as the shin- 

 ing of their faces was extinguished, obscurity spread over all the earth. 

 Then four benevolent persons having taken pity on the human race, 

 and having seized the Mount Summer in their arms, shook it so vio- 

 lently that the ocean of the universe was agitated, in consequence of 

 which there appeared the sun, the moon, and the stars. 



The sun, according to the doctrine of the Buddhists, is a globe of 

 crystal, being more than 700 miles in circumference. In its interior 

 there is lodged a luminous being, whose radiant face spreads light and 

 heat over all the earth. The sun is placed in an enormous plain, all 

 covered with the most splendid flowers. Every twenty-four hours 

 seven aerial horses draw it round Mount Summer. In the morninfif the 

 rays of the sun fall upon the silver side of Summer, before noon upon 

 the blue side, at noon upon the golden side, and lastly, in the evening, 

 its red side is illumined. Afterward the sun hides himself entirely be- 

 hind the mountain, in consequence of which darkness and night ensue. 



The moon, according to the ideas of the Buddhists, is also a globe 

 of crystal, but filled with water, and it also is inhabited by a luminous 

 being. The phases of the moon depend on its more or less remote- 

 ness from the sun ; and the spots which are perceived on its surface 

 are the shadows of the different marine animals which live in the uni- 

 versal ocean. After having created the sun and the moon, the creative 

 gods held a council, during which the wicked spirit glided in unper- 

 ceived and drank up all the sacred water of the vase which stood be- 

 fore the gods. Indignant at this audacity, they decided to punish 

 him; but for a long time they could not discover where he was. They 

 then interrogated the sun, and the sun gave them an unsatisfactory 

 reply. They then addressed themselves to the moon, and she indi- 

 cated to them the place m which he was hidden. In revenge for this 



