Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 1.djvu/442

428 just family, which will be hidden in a ravine. After which the earth will be covered with dead bodies and gorged with blood. It will rain a purifying rain, afterward a fecundating rain; lastly, a third rain will bring all that is indispensable to man. The family which was hidden will then come out from its refuge, and many other virtuous men will be resuscitated to recommence their new life, which will endure 80,000 years, and to enjoy all the blessings of the earth.

But shortly men, forgetting past misfortunes, will begin again to do evil, and consequently their longevity will be gradually decreased. When human life will not endure more than 2,000 years, there will appear upon the earth the being Maïdari [sic]. He will be of high stature, and of dazzling beauty. Men, surprised with his exterior, will ask him by what means he had arrived at such perfection. To which Maïdari will reply that all this came to him in consequence of his good works, by which they also are capable of gaining the same perfection. The example and the instruction of God reacting upon men, they will be corrected, and they will live anew 80,000 years. This second change will be followed by fifty-four new ones; and each eighth change will be accompanied by a deluge, all the others by a fire.

The Buddhist doctrines of the soul, of punishments and rewards which are prepared for every one after death, are equally very strange. The souls of all creatures pass after death into new beings. Each soul prepares itself for this transmigration during its terrestrial life. Dwelling in the human body, the soul never seats itself in one single definite place, but every day changes its seat. Thus, on the first of each month the soul finds itself in the forefinger; the second day it resides in the foot; the third day in the calf of the leg; the fourth in the knee. In this way it ascends everyday higher; at the eighth day it finds itself in the loins; the twelfth it passes into the palm of the hand; the fifteenth it spreads through the whole body; the sixteenth it seats itself in the nose; and on the last day of the month it appears in the thumb. Afterward its migration recommences in the same order. The injury of a part, when the soul is seated in it, is always followed by an inevitable death. After death the soul passes into one of the six reigns, and animates some other body.

The choice of a reign does not depend upon the soul itself, but it is fixed by the judge of the lower regions, who takes into consideration the good works accomplished upon earth. The habitation of the judge of the infernal regions is situated in a subterranean palace, surrounded with sixteen walls of iron. It is there that all the souls of dead men present themselves before him, except those of lamas, which ascend at once toward the happier dwelling-place. Each soul is escorted by two spirits, the good and the wicked, who, presenting it to Erlik-Khan, place before him white and black stones. If the white stones, which signify good works, exceed the black, then the soul, placed upon a