294 [Oct. 19, 
Mooney.] 
count of the presence of a celebrated monastery to which bodies wer 
brought for burial from all parts of Ireland. Many of them ar built with 
more than the usual care, and ar thus described by observers: ‘‘ Upon 
death occurring the primitive tumulus is built—if that may be called 
building which consists in placing a few large stones upon a spot pre- 
viously unoccupied. Each relative of the dead adds to the heap, and in , 
time it becomes a ‘mountain’ of tolerable size. Each family knows its 
own particular monument ; and a member of, or a descendant from it, 
prays and leaves his offering only at that especial one. * * * In each 
of them we observed asmall hollow, which the peasants call ‘a window ;’ 
most of these were full of pebbles, and upon inquiry we learned that 
when one of the race to whom the deceased belongs kneels by the side of 
this record to his memory and offers up a prayer for the repose of his soul, 
it is customary te fling a little stone into this ‘cupbord,’ the belief being 
that gradually as it fills, so gradually the soulis relieved of punishment in 
purgatory ; when completely full the soul has entered paradise.’’* 
Inregard to the future life there ar a number of interesting beliefs, 
many of which hay come down from Druidic times. It is held that the 
souls of those whose sins wil not allow them to enter heaven at once after 
death ar frequently condemd to spend their purgatory on this earth, gen- 
erally invisibly, but sometimes in'animal forms, and in this state to endure 
all the miseries of cold and hunger, weariness and thirst, that attach to 
mortal life. A white or spotted butterfly is held sacred as the embodiment 
of one of these spirits and is never intentionally injured. The same belief 
exists in China.t The spots indicate the number of sins yet to be atoned 
for, while the white butterfly is the purified soul on its way to paradise. 
For this reason a butterfly hovering about a sick-room is regarded as an 
omen of death, and should one alight on a corpse it is known to be the 
liberated soul of the dead man, and the duration of his purgatory is esti- 
mated from the number of spots on the wings of the insect. On the west 
coast seals ar held to be the embodied souls of the dead, and their plain- j 
tiv cries ar wails of sorrow in their misery. They ar never molested by 
the fishermen, who believ that swift punishment would follow any attempt 
to harm one. According to Hall, they ar the embodied spirits of those 
who perishd in the Deluge. } 
No one who dies in debt, or with a vow unfulfild, or in possession of 
stolen property, can enter heaven until full satisfaction has been made, 
either by the soul in purgatory or by the friends upon earth. Stories ar 
told of persons who hav died owing small sums, and whose spirits hav 
appeard soon after to their surviving relativs to ask them to pay the 
amount of the debt. Persons often vow to make a pilgrimage, or ‘‘ goa 
{Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, Ireland Picturesquely Mlustrated, iii, 376-7, New York, n. d., 
R. Worthington, importer. 
+ Chinese Superstitions, Popular Science Monthly, xxxii, 797, New York, April, 1888. 
+ Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, Ireland Picturesquely Illustrated, iii, 408, n. d., New York, 
R. Worthington, importer. 
