on a trembling
wicker bridge which is very dangerous."

Some Greenlanders believe that the soul can go astray out of the body for
a considerable time. Some believe that they can leave their souls at home
when going on a journey, and others believe in the migration of souls.

Belief in the soul and a future state is universal among the Indians of
North America. All are familiar with the tradition of the "Happy Hunting
Ground." With them the future life is patterned after the present.

Schoolcraft says that the Chippewas believe that there are duplicate
souls, one of which remains with the body, while the other is free to
depart on excursions during sleep. After death the soul departs to the
Indian Elysium and a fire is kept burning on the newly-made grave for four
days, the time required for the soul to reach its destination.

The Dakotas stand in great fear of the spirits of the dead, who they think
have power to injure them, and they recite prayers and give offerings to
appease them.

The Mandans, according to Schoolcraft, have anticipated Prof. Lloyd's
Etidorhpa, even to the beautiful maiden. They believe that they were the
first people created on the earth, and that they first lived inside the
globe. They raised many vines, one of which having grown up through a hole
in the earth, one of the young men climbed up until he crawled out on the
bank of the river where the Mandan village stands. (Jack and the bean
stalk.) The young man returned to the nether world and piloted several of
his companions to the outer world, and among them two very beautiful
virgins. Among those who tried to get up was a very large and fat woman,
who was ordered by the chiefs to remain behind. Her curiosity prompted her
secretly to make the trial. The vine broke under her weight and she was
badly hurt by the fall, but did not die, and was ever after in disgrace
for having cut off all communication with the upper world. Those who had
already ascended built the Mandan village, and when these die they expect
to return to the nether world from which they came. They also believe the
earth a great tortoise, and have a tradition of a universal deluge.

The Indians of Guiana believe in the immortality of the soul, as do also
the Arawaks. The Brazilians are said by Spix and Martins to have had no
religious belief whatever before mingling with the civilized races. The
Guaranis believed in a soul which remained in the grave with the body.

The Pat