33 



THE DEMONS 



remain, it is said, nothing to be seen next morning, but a dead 

 lizard. She is described as being so fat and short, that, when she 

 moves, she appears rather to roll like a cask, than to walk. 



XXII. The Pretas are entirely a different race of beings from 

 all that have yet been mentioned. They are the most helpless and 

 miserable creatures in existence. They' live only to suffer. Their 

 life itself is a punishment, in which they expiate the sins of a pre- 

 vious state of existence. Their only aliment is spittle, or some 

 other kind of loathsome matter, and even when they get a little of 

 this, their destiny precludes them from making any use of it, and, 

 like king Tantalus they can only look at it with a burning desire. 

 The number of these beings is so great, that a Pali Buddhistical 

 work, which lays down certain rules of discipline for the guidance 

 of the followers of that religion, admonishes them not to throw 

 stones or sticks, nor even to swing their arms when walking, lest 

 they may strike a Pretaya and injure him. The Pretayo are invi- 

 sible to men; they are of various degrees of stature, some reaching 

 to the height of 3 or 4 hundred feet, others only of one or two feet. 

 Their sufferings from hunger and thirst are indescribably dreadful, 

 and to make their case the more miserable, their appetites are much 

 stronger, than those of any other race of beings. They die several 

 times in a day from sheer starvation, but owing to the inexorable 

 destiny of their race are born again the same instant, to undergo 

 the same round of sufferings over and over again, until they have 

 completed the period of time allotted to them according to their 

 respective sins, after which they are born in some other state of 

 existence, either as Brahmas, dewiyo, men, inferior animals, or in 

 hell, according to the merits of each, acquired in some other pre- 

 vious states of existence. Of course, they are the most loathsome 

 looking creatures imaginable. Their skins hang about them in 

 loose folds, and are so covered with dirt and vermin that they are 

 supposed to emit a disagreeable smell, said to be perceived some- 

 times at a considerable distance. This smell is sometimes identi- 

 fied by a Singhalese with a peculiar unpleasant stench, often 

 perceived near trees and bushes, caused as we believe, by the effluvia 



