who place their Paradise in an island
beyond the Great Lake (Pacific), and far toward the setting sun. There,
good Indians enjoy a fine country abounding in game, are always clad in new
skins, and live in warm new lodges. Thither they are wafted by prosperous
gales; but the bad Indians are driven back by adverse storms, wrecked on
the coast, where the remains of their canoes are to be seen covering the
strand in all directions.

I cannot refrain from adding here another coincidence connected with
futurity. The above idea of sailing to the Indian Paradise, though
prevalent, is not general; for instance, the Minnetarees and Mandans
believed that to reach Paradise the souls of the departed had to pass over
an extremely narrow bridge, which was done safely by the good Indians, but
the bad ones slipped off and were buried in oblivion. (See Long's
_Expedition to the Rocky Mountains_, vol. i. p. 259.)

The Chepewa crosses a river on a bridge formed by the body of a large snake
(see Long's _Expedition to St. Peter's River_, vol. i. p. 154.); and in the
same volume it is stated that the Dacota, or Sioux, believe they must pass
over a rock with a sharp edge like a knife. Those who fall off go to the
region of evil spirits, where they are worked, tormented, and frequently
flogged unmercifully.

Now, this bridge for gaining Paradise is just the Alsirat of the
Mahomedans; I think it will be found in the _Bibliotheque Orientale_ of
D'Herbelot; at all events it is mentioned in the preliminary discourse to
Sale's _Koran_. Sale thinks Mahomet borrowed the idea from the Magians, who
teach, that on the last day all mankind must pass over the "Pul Chinavad"
or "Chinavar," _i.e._ "The Straight Bridge." Farther, the Jews speak of the
"Bridge of Hell," which is no broader than a thread. According to M.
Hommaire de Hell, the Kalmuck Alsirat is a bridge of iron (or causeway)
traversing a sea of filth, urine, &c. When the wicked attempt to pass along
this, it narrows beneath them to a hair's breadth, snaps asunder, and thus
convicted they are plunged into hell. (_Travels in the Steppes of the
Caspian, &c._, p. 252.)

Having already trespassed most unconscionably, I forbear farther remark on
these coincidences, except that such ideas of futurity being found amongst
nations so widely separated, cannot but induce the belief of a common
origin, or at least of intimate communication at a former period, and that
so remote as to have allowed time fo