]68 CONVERSATION WITH COMMORO. [chap. vi. 
that be ? Can a dead man get out of his grave, unless 
we dig him out ? ” 
“ Do you think man is like a beast, that dies and is 
ended ? ” 
Commoro.—“ Certainly; an ox is stronger than a 
man ; but he dies, and his bones last longer ; they are 
bigger. A man s bones break quickly—he is weak.” 
“ Is not a man superior in sense to an ox ? Has he 
not a mind to direct his actions ? ” 
Commoro. —“ Some men are not so clever as an ox. 
Men must sow corn to obtain food, but the ox and 
wild animals can procure it without sowing.” 
“ Do you not know that there is a spirit within 
you more than flesh ? Do you not dream and wander 
in thought to distant places in your sleep ? Never¬ 
theless, your body rests in one spot. How do you 
account for this ?” 
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, I 
have seen a distant fire; upon approaching, the fire 
* The natives always produce fire by rubbing two sticks together. 
