248 
“ WHERE WILL THE SPIRIT LIVE I 
[chap. VI. 
Commoro , laughing—“ Well, how do you account 
for it ? It is a thing I cannot understand ; it occurs to 
me every night.” 
“ The mind is independent of the body; — the 
actual body can be fettered, but the mind is uncon¬ 
trollable ; the body will die and will become dust, or 
be eaten by vultures, but the spirit will exist for ever.” 
Commoro .—“ Where will the spirit live ?” 
“ Where does fire live ? Cannot you produce a 
fire * by rubbing two sticks together, yet you see not 
the fire in the wood. Has not that fire, that lies 
harmless and unseen in the sticks, the power to con¬ 
sume the whole country ? Which is the stronger, the 
small stick that first produces the fire, or the fire 
itself ? So is the spirit the element within the body, 
as the element of fire exists in the stick; the element 
being superior to the substance.” 
Commoro .—“ Ha! Can you explain what we fre¬ 
quently see at night when lost in the wilderness ? I 
have myself been lost, and wandering in the dark, 1 
have seen a distant fire; upon approaching, the fire 
has vanished, and I have been unable to trace the 
cause—nor could I find the spot.” 
“ Have you no idea of the existence of spirits 
* The natives always produce fire by rubbing two sticks together. 
