THE COYARA A SECULARIST 241 



ideas of a future life, and asked him what became of 

 people after they died. He caused me to understand 

 that the} 7 went into the ground, where their bodies 

 soon decomposed, to make fruits and flowers for the 

 enjoyment of those who were to come after. I could 

 not find out that he had any idea of a soul, or land of 

 bliss in which it was to reside. This surprised me very 

 much, as I had been led to think that the belief in a 

 future state of existence is universal ; and that the most 

 uncivilized races of mankind believe in the soul and a 

 place of rest. The Coyara is a secularist : he has no 

 priest to pay, no hell to torment his imagination ; and 

 takes his heaven with his wife and children as he goes 

 along. 



A dentist would never make a living in New Guinea, 

 as the people have such strong and handsome teeth that 

 they seldom need one. We eat so much soft food, and 

 give our jaws and teeth so little exercise, that it is no 

 wonder we are, many of us, edentates before we are 

 thirty. 



Nature never gives an animal tools unless there is 

 work to be done with them ; and if an animal is well 

 provided with good tools, and ceases to use them, they 

 become smaller and smaller in each succeeding genera- 

 tion, and finally disappear. 



The natives chew sugar-cane every day of their lives, 

 and if there is anything that requires strength of jaws 

 and teeth, that is the article. It always gave me a 



