300 THE WATER BULL. 



notions of metamorphosis or metempsychosis, while yet a very few look 

 for annihilation. 



The majority, however, aver that the good, at death, after a long- and 

 tedious journey, reach a happy country, abundant in everything the heart 

 can desire, or thought conceive of ; where, free from pain and sickness, and 

 removed from every ill, they shall bask forever in the sunshine of perfect 

 beatitude. 



To aid in this long journey, horses are occasionally sacrificed for the 

 feeble and decrepit, (more generally squaws and aged warriors,) that, by 

 mounting their disembodied chargers, the spirits of the deceased may gain a 

 speedy entrance within its confines and taste the joys of their eternal home. 



Of those adhering to different opinions, some believe in the transmission 

 of souls from body to body through successive ages ; and others, that they 

 become the spirits of either men or animals, according to the virtues or 

 demerits of the departed. 



With regard to the final allotment of the wicked, their general theology 

 consigns them to an interminable wandering over a desert waste, without 

 purpose or rest, or even one moment's respite from their miseries, and sub- 

 ject to all the bitter pangs of hunger, thirst, and nakedness ; and tormented 

 with the sudden and intolerable extremities of heat and cold. The Scrip- 

 turian here will not fail to recognize an obscure delineation of the world 

 of woe, as portrayed in the sacred writings. 



The ideas of some few, on the other hand, transform these condemned 

 spirits into wild beasts or reptiles, but more frequently into prairie-dogs, 

 that, by penance and suffering through a long succession of years, they 

 may atone for previous misdeeds. 



Many incidents of adventure related by Friday would doubtless interest 

 the general reader, but space precludes their insertion. However, I cannot 

 refuse place to the following, as affording to the curious a more special 

 matter of speculation. 



" On my return from an expedition against the Utahs," said he, " in 

 crossing the mountain chain south of Long's Peak, I went in advance of 

 the main party. 



" My course led over one of the highest points of the range, whose 

 summit disclosed a level surface of considerable extent. While passing 

 leisurely along, the crowing of a mountain fowl, a short distance to the 

 right, caught my ear. (There are fowls in some parts of the mountains 

 similar to those raised by the whites, — but they are very wild and shy.) 

 Following the sound, I was led to the verge of a small lake, with steep 

 banks of rock, and sat down by it, in hopes of discovering the object of 

 my curiosity. 



'• While here, my attention was directed to a strange movement in the 

 lake-waters, accompanied by a loud noise and turmoil ; soon after which 

 a large creature arose from the middle and swam to the shore, where he 

 stood upon a rock in full view. His looks frightened me. In size he 

 was equal to the largest buffalo, and much like one of those animals in 

 form ; he was black, with a singularly shaped head, and had tusks in- 

 stead of horns, which curved downward. 



" He looked so terrible I hurried away as quick as possible, and re- 



