ON THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS. 269 



of inflexible rigor. The fpedlator of fuch a tremen- 

 dous fcene can imagine nothing elfe than that the foul 

 of the foothiayer has abandoned his body, if he have 

 ^iiot already learnt by experience and obfervation that 

 this, though fomewhat unnatural, is not altogether fu- 

 pernatural : and certainly many a traveller would have 

 fallen into this miftake, had he not been withheld by 

 the belief in the power of the devil. They fpeak on 

 this fab] eel: with fuch a folemn furprife, and with fuch 

 dreadful contortions of countenance, that we may eafily 

 perceive they have taken the whole for fuperlmman 

 and diabolical ; and numbers of them know not how to 

 help themfelves out of this perplexity, but by leaving 

 it to the fagacity of their reader to determine, whether 

 the evil fpirit may not really have a hand in it, The 

 juglers are very expert in confirming the prejudice, by 

 pretending that in thefe extalies they really make jom> 

 nies into the lower world, where they hold conference 

 with their deities and anceftors *• 



When a people once believes a roving of the foul 

 from its body, it may very cafily pafs on to the idea, 

 that the foul of one man transfers itfelf into the body of 

 another. For what is more eafy and natural, than for 

 fouls fo feparated from their bodies frequently to 

 lofe their way, and to get into a different body in like 

 manner forfaken of its foul ? What more comprehen- 

 iible, than that a foul mould feek out a new body for 

 its habitation, when become weary of its former abode ? 

 Accordingly, we actually find among nations who 

 adoot the migrations of the foul, the belief in the 



JL. O 



* Craotz, hiftory of Greenland, vol. i. p, 257. 



commutation 



