284 FOSSIL MEN. 



spirit, they were, like ourselves, unable to give any 

 definite answer, and compared it to a shade or ghost 

 of the body, to a breath, air, or mist, or to the appear- 

 ance of a bird all, however, ancient and familiar 

 representations among the nations of the Old World. 

 They also most naturally believed that the tastes and 

 desires of the dead were the same with those which 

 had actuated them in life. Hence it was proper to 

 bring offerings of food to the grave, and to bury with 

 the corpse what the person had valued 'during life, or 

 some model or miniature representation of it. In the 

 case of eminent persons, costly gifts might be given 

 by friends or dependents, or even by tribes and 

 nations, for this purpose. They also believed that for 

 a time after death the soul hovered over or remained 

 with the body, before taking its final departure for the 

 world of spirits, and it was supposed by some that 

 the funeral feast held in honour of the dead was that 

 which gave it its passport for the long journey. 



The soul having thus departed was believed to make 

 its way to the happy land, and the path thither was 

 provided with accessories similar to those with which 

 ancient mythologies have rendered us familiar. Some 

 believed in the simple pathway of the stars, to which 

 I have already referred.* Others believed in a long 

 and dangerous journey, or in a river of death, whose 

 Charon used a stone canoe, or which was crossed by a 

 narrow and slippery bridge. There was a Cerberus, 

 also, to be contended with, and the souls of the 

 wicked might either perish altogether in the attempt 

 * P. 



