periods of history of the world, by the fact that man was always
accustomed to address prayers to the spirits of their ancestors.[389:1]

These _heavens_ and _hells_ where men abode after death, vary, in
different countries, according to the likes and dislikes of each nation.

All the Teutonic nations held to a fixed Elysium and a hell, where the
valiant and the just were rewarded, and where the cowardly and the
wicked suffered punishment. As all nations have made a god, and that god
has resembled the persons who made it, so have all nations made a
heaven, and that heaven corresponds to the fancies of the people who
have created it.

In the prose Edda there is a description of the joys of _Valhalla_ (the
Hall of the Chosen), which states that: "All men who have fallen in
fight since the beginning of the world are gone to Odin (the Supreme
God), in Valhalla." A mighty band of men are there, "and every day, as
soon as they have dressed themselves, they ride out into the court (or
field), and there fight until they cut each other into pieces. This is
their pastime, but when the meal-tide approaches, they remount their
steeds, and return to drink in _Valhalla_. As it is said (in
Vafthrudnis-mal):

'The Einherjar all
On Odin's plain
Hew daily each other,
While chosen the slain are.
From the frey they then ride,
And drink ale with the AEsir.'"[390:1]

This description of the palace of Odin is a natural picture of the
manners of the ancient Scandinavians and Germans. Prompted by the wants
of their climate, and the impulse of their own temperament, they formed
to themselves a delicious paradise in their own way; where they were to
eat and drink, and fight. The women, to whom they assigned a place
there, were introduced for no other purpose but to fill their cups.

The Mohammedan paradise differs from this. Women _there_, are for man's
pleasure. The day is always serene, the air forever pure, and a soft
celestial light clothes all things in transfigured beauty. Majestic
groves, verdant meadows, and blooming gardens vary the landscape. There,
in radiant halls, dwell the departed, ever blooming and beautiful, ever
laughing and gay.

The American Indian calculates upon finding successful chases after wild
animals, verdant plains, and no winter, as the characteristics of his
"future life."

The red Indian, when told by a missionary that in the "promised land"
they would neither eat, drink,