crying out and shrieking most
terribly." It is worthy of regard that the custom of marking themselves
with hot irons, and tattooing, is characteristic both of the Guios of
Camoens and of the present inhabitants of New Zealand. And if, as its
animals indicate, the island of Otaheite was first peopled by a
shipwreck, the friendship existing in a small society might easily
obliterate the memory of one custom, while the less unfriendly one of
tattooing was handed down, a memorial that they owed their origin to the
north-eastern parts of Asia, where that custom particularly prevails.

{*} [Greek: Istorountai goun Massagetai kai Derbykes hathliotatous
hegeisthai ton hoikeion tous automatons teleutesantas; dio kai
phthasantes katathyousin kai estiontai ton philtaton tous gegerakotas.]

[659] _Other worlds the souls of beasts receive._--That Queen Elizabeth
reigned in England, is not more certain than that the most ignorant
nations in all ages have had the idea of a state after death. The same
faculty which is conscious of existence whispers the wish for it; and,
so little acquainted with the deductions of reasoning have some tribes
been, that not only their animals, but even the ghosts of their domestic
utensils have been believed to accompany them to the islands of the
blessed. Long ere the voice of philosophy was heard, the opinion of an
after state was popular in Greece. The works of Homer bear incontestable
evidence of this. And there is not a feature in the history of the human
mind better ascertained, than that no sooner did speculation seize upon
the topic, than belief declined, and, as the great Bacon observes, the
most learned, became the most atheistical ages. The reason of this is
obvious. While the human mind is all simplicity, popular opinion is
cordially received; but, when reasoning begins, proof is expected, and
deficiency of demonstration being perceived, doubt and disbelief
naturally follow. Yet, strange as it may appear, if the writer's memory
does not greatly deceive him, these certain facts were denied by Hobbes.
If he is not greatly mistaken, that gentleman, who gave a wretched, a
most unpoetical translation of Homer, has so grossly misunderstood his
author, as to assert that his mention of a future state was not in
conformity to the popular opinion of his age, but only his own poetical
fiction. He might as well have assured us, that the sacrifices of Homer
had never any existence in Greece. But, as no ab