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lignant spirit; on the contrary, those animals which subsist on 
vegetables, and do not prey upon each other, are pronounced 
favoured of the Almighty. 
That every animal form is endued with cogitation, memory, 
and reflection, is one of the established tenets of the Brahmins; 
indeed it must necessarily follow, from the supposed metempsy- 
chosis of the apostate spirits through these mortal forms: they also 
believe that every distinct species of the animal creation have a 
comprehensive mode of communicating their ideas, peculiar to 
themselves; and that the metempsychosis of the delinquent spirits 
extends through every organized body, even to the smallest insect 
and reptile. They highly venerate the bee, and some species of 
the ant; and conceive the spirits animating these forms to be fa- 
voured by God, and that the intellectual faculties are more enlarged 
under them than in most others. 
With such tenets we cannot be surprized at their unwillingness 
to take away the life of any creature whatever; as they must sup- 
pose them to possess still more acute sensations than our dramatic 
poet describes: 
“ The smallest beetle that we tread upon, 
“ In corporal suffering feels a pang as great 
“ As when a giant dies!” Shakespeaee. 
The devotion of the Hindoos to the Supreme Being, and the 
inferior deities, consists in a regular attendance at the dewals, or 
temples, especially at the solemn festivals; in performing parti- 
cular religious ceremonies in their own houses; in prayers, ablu- 
tions, fastings, and penances; but especially in oblations, which 
consist chiefly of spices, incense, rice, fruits, and flowers; and al- 
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