240 OM THE RELIGION AND 



^^ OF THE DESTRUCTION AND REPkO- 

 '' DUCTION OF WORLDS. 



" XXXIII. The Burma writings alledge three re- 

 *' mote caufes for the dellrutlion of a world; luxury, 

 " anger, and ignorance. From thefe, by the power 

 "of fate, arife the phyfical or proximate caufes j 

 " namely, fire, water, and wind. When luxury pre- 

 *' vails, the world is confumed by fire; when anger 

 *' prevails, it is diffolved in water ; and when igno- 

 *' ranee prevails, it is difperfed by wind. The Bicr- 

 " mas do not fuppofe, that a world is deftroyed and a 

 " new one inftantaneoufly regenerated ; but that the 

 " deftruftioji takes up the fpace of an AJfcnchiekat, 

 " that the reproduftion takes up another, and that a 

 " third AJfenchiekat intervenes between the end of 

 " the old world and the beginning of the new." 



" XXXIV. Before we proceed to explain the 

 " opinions of the Burmas concerning the deftruClion 

 *' of a world, it will be necelTary to recolletl, that 

 *' they fuppofe fixty-four alterations in the length of 

 " man's life to happen during the exiftence of one 

 "world*. They fuppofe alfo, that almolt the whole 

 *' human race perifhes at each of thofe (ixty-four pe- 

 " riods, in which the length of life is reduced to ten 

 "years. And they farther fuppofe, that this deitruc- 

 " tion befalling the human kind is analogous to the 

 " crimes which have produced the fatal abbreviation 

 " of life. Thus when luxury prevails amonglt men, 

 " the greater part of them perifh by hunger, thirlt, 

 *' and wretchedncfs: when aniier is the caufe of fliort 

 " life, perpetual contentions and wars arife, and the 

 " bulk of mankind perifhes by the fword or fpear: 

 " finally, if ignorance be the prevailing crime, man- 

 " kind, worn out by a horrid confumption, wafte away 

 " to mere fkeletons. After the greater part of men 

 " have by fuch difallers perilhed, a great rain falls, 

 " and fweeps away into the rivers the unburied bodies 

 *' and filth. Then follows a Ihower of flowers and 

 " fandal-wood to purify the earth: and all kinds of 



" garments 

 ♦ P A G t 1 8 i of ihii VolJine. 



