iveness of Brahma, and even the zealous warmth
of other northern faiths, are all emotions utterly unknown and foreign
to the followers of Buddhism in Ceylon. Yet, strange to tell, under all
the icy coldness of this barren system there burns below the
unextinguished fires of another and a darker superstition, whose flames
overtop the icy summits of the Buddhist philosophy, and excite a deeper
and more reverential awe in the imagination of the Singhalese. As the
Hindus in process of time superadded to their exalted conceptions of
Brahma, and the benevolent attributes of Vishnu, their dismal dreams and
apprehensions, which embody themselves in the horrid worship of Siva,
and in invocations to propitiate the destroyer; so the followers of
Buddha, unsatisfied with the vain pretensions of unattainable
perfection, struck down by this internal consciousness of sin and
insufficiency, and seeing around them, instead of the reign of universal
happiness and the apotheosis of intellect and wisdom, nothing but the
ravages of crime and the sufferings produced by ignorance, have turned
with instinctive terror to propitiate the powers of evil, by whom alone
such miseries are supposed to be inflicted, and to worship the demons
and tormentors, to whom this superstition is contented to attribute a
circumscribed portion of power over the earth.' They call their demons
Yakkas, and, like the Ghouls of the Mohammedans, they are supposed to
infest grave-yards. They believe also in a demon for each form of
disease--delighting in the miseries of mankind. Thus in every domestic
affliction the services of the _Kattadias_, or devil-priests, are sought
to exorcise the demon. Although the more intelligent Singhalese
acknowledge the impropriety of this superstition, they themselves resort
to it in all their fears and afflictions. It has been found to be the
greatest impediment to the establishment of Christianity; for, though
the people without much difficulty become nominal Christians, they cling
to the terrible rites of their secret demon-worship with such
pertinacity, that while outwardly conforming to the doctrines of the
truth, they still trust to the incantations and ceremonies of the devil
priests. Notwithstanding this we must not despair. The struggle with
Satan, the author of devil-worship, may be long and fierce, but if we go
on perseveringly endeavouring to spread a knowledge of the gospel, we
shall most assuredly gain the victory ove