cording to their own pleasure, and consequently whose favour it is necessary to obtain by special acts of homage and attention.

It is the custom among some of the Tartar nations to burn their dead, and inter their ashes on an eminence, upon which they raise a heap of stones, and place on it little banners ; but a greater part of the Pagan Tartars bury their dead, and with each man his best horse and moveables, for his use in the other world. Others, however, throw their dead into open fields, to be devoured by the dogs, of which many run wild, and some are kept for this purpose. If the bodies are thus devoured by any number exceeding six, they think honourably of the deceased; otherwise he is a disgrace to his relations.

On some of the skirts of the villages are seen tombs, which are larger and better built than the houses; each of them encloses three, four, or five biers of a neat workmanship, ornamented with Chinese stuffs, some pieces of which are brocade. Bows, arrows, lines, and, in general, the most valuable articles belonging to these people, are suspended in the interior of the monuments, the wooden door of which is closed with a bar, supported at its extremities by two props.

The Mongols on the frontiers of China have built several temples in the countries which they inhabit; one of these is near the river Tchikoi. It was formerly their principal temple, and the lama who officiated there had the superintendence of all the others. There is another spacious edifice of this kind, twenty-five wersts from the town of Selinginsk, to the south-west of the lake of Kulling Noor, which possesses the supremacy over four others.

The Bouraits and Bourettes, of Mongol origin, were not known till the 17th century, the period of the conquest of the west part of Siberia by the Russians. They also reside on the frontiers of China, in the government of Irkutzk, along the Angara and the Lena, to the south of Lake Baikal, and in Daouria. Their number is estimated at ninety-three thousand. Still attached to a roving life, they have no other habitations than huts made with poles, and covered with pieces of felt tied with hair ropes. The fire occupies the centre. The huts of each family form a small village. Their furniture is very simple: broad benches serve for a bed; they have a pillow of hair or feathers, under which they put the casket containing their most valuable effects.

The religion of the Bouraits is a mixture of Lamaism and Shamaism. In their huts they have wooden idols, naked or

The

clothed others are of felt, tin, or lamb's skin; and others again rude daubings with soot by the Shamans, who give them arbitrary names. The women are not allowed to approach, or to pass before them. The Bourait, when he goes out, or returns to his hut, bows to his idols, and this is almost the only daily mark of respect that he pays them. He annually celebrates two festivals in honour of them, and at these men only have a right to be present. The priests preside at a sacrifice; a sheep is commonly chosen for the victim, which they slaughter by ripping open the belly; the heart is then taken out, and the Shaman places a small lock of wool, cut from the back, in the lungs, which ceremony is designed to preserve the other sheep from all kinds of diseases. flesh is afterwards separated from the bones, dressed, and set before the idols, where it is left for the whole time the Shaman is singing. When he has finished, he repeats fresh prayers, with abundance of ceremonies, throwing into the fire four spoonfuls of broth, and as many small pieces of meat; the rest is distributed among the company. Before he dismisses the assembly, the priest sets up a flesh song, much more obstreperous than the first, accompanied with shivering, leaping, and howling, pronouncing the names of different demons, which makes the Bouraits believe that he is cursing them, and will thereby prevent those spirits from injuring them or their herds. Particular sacrifices take place on occasion of a journey, sickness, or accident.

Under this head may be briefly noticed the religion of the Kamtschadales.

very

The Christian religion was introduced into this country by their conquerors, but the inhabitants know little more of it than the ceremony of baptism. They are ignorant of the first principles of christianity. As to their inclinations, they follow the impulse of their passions. Many of them, both men and women, are chamans, or believers in the witchcraft of those pretended sorcerers. They dread the Russian priests, and do all they can to avoid meeting them, which, if they are not able to effect, they act the hypocrite, till they can find a convenient opportunity to make an escape. They pay a secret homage to their god Koutka, and place in him so entire a confidence, that they address their prayers to him, when they are desirous of obtaining any boon, or of engaging in any enterprise. When they go to the chase, they abstain from washing themselves, and are careful not to make the sign of the cross; they invoke their Koutka, and the first animal they catch is sacrificed to him. After this act of devotion

they conceive that their chase will be successful; on the contrary, if they were to cross themselves, they would despair of catching any thing. To the same deity they consecrate their new-born children, who are destined to become chamans.

The great veneration of these people for sorcerers can scarcely be conceived, it approaches to insanity, and is really to be pitied; for the extravagant and wild absurdities by which these magicians keep alive the credulity of their friends, excite the indignation rather than the laughter of eye-witnesThis superstition is confined to but a small part of the Kamtschadales, who do not now profess it openly, nor give the same splendour they once did to their necromany,

ses.

SECTION V.

RELIGION AND CEREMONIES

OF CEYLON.

The religion followed in the Island of Ceylon so much resembles either that of the Gentoos, or what is sometimes called the religion of Boodh, that very little need be said concerning it. This religion is followed by the natives of Cey. lon, who inhabit the interior of the island. The images of Boodh appear with short and crisped hair, because it is believed that he cut it with a golden sword, which produced that effect. Their priests manifest a much greater degree of intellect than the Brahmins of Hindoostan. Two of their priests, converted to the Christian religion, by the pious exertions of the Wesleyan Methodist Missions, recently visited London, and are at present engaged in learning our language, qualifying themselves for missionaries and teachers in their own country, on their return.

Indeed, there are already several converted Budhu priests employed as schoolmasters and catechists, and other native preachers, who are described as very useful in assisting the European missionaries, and in the translation of the scriptures.

Of the means employed by the unconverted priests to deter men from sin, or to induce them to perform some act, the reader has only to cast his eye over the adjoining cuts, representing Ceylonese hells, in which flames and tortures of the most frightful descriptions are seen employed to punish the damned. On the other hand, the heavens of the Boodhists

are little inferior to the luxurious descriptions of the heavens of Vishnoo or Bramha.

The marriage ceremony is extremely simple :—the priest joins the parties together by placing their thumbs together, uttering a few words, then sprinkling them with water, covers them with a sheet. They separate as soon and as often as

they think proper.

Christianity was taught in this large and populous island in the sixteenth century, according to the doctrines of the Catholics, by the Portuguese, and of the Protestants, by the Dutch. It does not appear that Christianity obtained a firmer footing, in any of the European settlements in the east, than in the island of Ceylon. Many thousands of nominal Christians have been reckoned on the island, ever since their religion was first established there, and continue to this time. The doctrines of the gospel have, however, been held by them with great imperfection and error, and with a very lax morality. At the present time there is a number of Missionary stations on the island, occupied by pious Missionaries from Great Britain and the United States, with favourable prospects of success.

SECTION VI.

OF THE LAPLANDERS.

Although great pains have been taken by the Danes and Swedes, to inform the minds of the Laplanders on the subject of religion, yet the majority of them continue to practice superstitions and idolatries, as gross as any that are to be met with among Pagans. Augury and witchcraft are practised among them ; and they have been considered by many of our modern traders as very skilful in magic and divination. They are professedly Christians of the Lutheran persuasion, but so superstitious, that if they meet any thing in the morning esteemed ominous, they return home, and do not stir out the whole day; they pray to their ancient idols for the increase and safety of their herds.

Their magicians make use of what they call a drum, an instrument not very dissimilar to the tambourine. On this they draw the figures of their own gods, as well as those of Jesus Christ, the apostles, the sun, the moon, stars, birds, and rivOn different parts of this instrument and its ornaments

ers.

are placed small brass rings, which, when the drum is beaten with a little hammer, dance over the figures, and, according to their progress, the sorcerer prognosticates. When he has gone through all his manoeuvres, he informs his audience what they desire to know.

These operations are generally performed for gain; and the northern ship-masters are such dupes to the delusions of these impostors, that they often purchase of them a magic cord, which contains a number of knots; by opening of which, according to the magician's directions, they expect to gain any wind they want.

The Laplanders frequently sacrifice to the trunk of a tree, which they cut into something like a human face. They believe in the transmigration of the soul, and have festivals set apart for the worship of certain spirits, who, they imagine, inhabit the air, and have power over human actions; but being without form or substance, they assign to them neither images nor statues. They also follow the practice of invok ing the dead.

A black cat in each house, is reckoned as one of the most valuable appendages; they talk to it as a rational creature, and in hunting and fishing parties, it is their usual attendant. To this animal the Danish Laplanders communicate their secrets; they consult it on all important occasions; such as whether this day should or should not be employed in hunting or fishing, and are governed by its accidental conduct. Among the Swedish Laplanders, a drum is kept in every family, for the purpose of consulting with the devil!

When a Laplander intends to marry, he or his friends court the father with presents of brandy: if he gains admittance to the fair one, he offers her some eatable, which she rejects before company, but readily accepts in private. Every visit to the lady is purchased from the father with a bottle of brandy, and this prolongs the courtship sometimes for two or three years. The priest of the parish at last celebrates the nuptials; but the bridegroom is obliged to serve his father-inlaw for four years after marriage. He then carries home his wife and her fortune, which consists of a few sheep, a kettle, and some trifling articles. It is a part of the ceremony at a Lapland wedding, to adorn the bride with a crown, ornamented with a variety of gaudy trinkets; and on these occasions the baubles are generally borrowed of their neighbours.

When a Laplander is supposed to be approaching his dissolution, his friends exhort him to die in the faith of Christ. They are, however, unwilling to attend him in his last mo