%6q on THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS, 



birth in YEgypt would hardly be proved from the de- 

 fective, the contradictory and the obfcure accounts 

 that come to our hands from that country fo fertile in 

 wonders. And even in India, from the very fame cau- 

 ies, and from the vafl multitude of fables, and the 

 want of hiftorical relations, we fhould likewife find but 

 few data for the fatisfying of our curiolity. 



But the refearch becomes more intricate and per- 

 plexed, if we add to this, that in Greenland * ; among 

 the Mongals -f ; in Louiliana J; and among the Iroquois 

 and their neighbours §, the fame opinion is commonly 

 prevalent. That all thefe nations fhould have derived 

 it from India or ./Egypt, is no more credible, than 

 that the]/ adopted the worfhip of the fears and the ado- 

 ration of fire from the inhabitants of the Eafr. And 

 yet the conclufion, that this or that att, fcience, or 

 opinion is in practice among the orientals, and likewife 

 in the regions of the North, confequently that the Eail 

 is their native feat, is almon: univerfally made by thofe 

 who employ thernfelves in inveftlgating the origin and 

 progrefs of human knowledge. Nothing, at the fame 

 time, is more fallacious than this very conclufion ; for 

 it is by no means a neceffary induction, that all the 

 difcoveries have proceeded exactly from one nation ; 

 and we may and rnufr. admit, that the fame matters 

 have been difcovered by feveral, at various times an4 

 in different places. In all the regions under heaven 



* Crantz hillory of Greenland, vol. i. p. 258. 

 T Recueil de voyages an Nord, torn. viii. p. 424, 

 J Rec. cie voyages au Nord, torn. v. p. 23. 

 § Lafi'tcau, raoeurs des Sauvagcs, torn, i. p. 410, ] 



6 the 



