Third Incarnation.

A powerful genius, Renniaxem by name, took the earth one day and rolled it in his hand like a bowl; but not satisfied with having thus far tried his skill, and imagining himself to be the peaceable possessor of the terrestrial globe, he went and hid himself in Patalam, which is the bottom of the abyss. Vishnu, who was asleep at the instant when he took his flight, awaking on a sudden, was surprised to see the earth was gone; upon which he immediately transformed himself into a hog, pierced as far as Patalam by the help of his snout, armed with two monstrous tusks, attacked the thief, killed him, and then laying the earth on his tusks, returned from the abyss with this important conquest.

Fourth Incarnation.

Brama, in the first age, subdued the giant or devil called by the Indians Hirrenkessep, and kept him in a very tedious and severe confinement. After he had thus suffered for twelve years, the giant implored the mercy of Brama, who, taking pity on the unhappy wretch, indulged him with most uncommon favours; for he released him out of prison, made him a powerful monarch, and to assure him that he should continue to live, he granted him the following privilege,-viz., that it should be impossible for him to die, unless in the most extraordinary and uncommon manner. Hirrenkessep was hereby secured from the insults of the heaven, the earth, the sun, the moon, thunder, lightning, the day, the night, the wind, storms, and all accidents of that kind. The giant, having recovered his liberty, raised several armies, and made such rapid conquests, that he soon became the terror of the universe. He carried his insolence to such a pitch, that, forgetting who he was, he commanded that himself only should be adored as God. The Bramins opposed this impious worship, and besought Vishnu to deliver them from the tyranny with which they were oppressed. Vishnu assured them that the wife of this tyrant should bring forth a child, who should free them from his usurpation. Vishnu's promise was fulfilled: the giant became the father of a son, whom he would have brought up in the worship of himself only; but the babe, so far from owning him to be God, made a solemn confession of his faith, by which he acknowledged Vishnu as creator of the fourteen worlds, and father of truth, &c. The tyrant, highly incensed, treated this little martyr to the Bramins' faith very inhumanly, and was going to knock him down with his staff, when the child escaped the blow, by hiding himself behind a pillar, which received the stroke, and immediately split in two, when lo! a dreadful monster issued out of it. Vishnu had assumed that shape purposely to chastise the insolence of this tyrant. The metamorphosed god seized the giant by the middle, and tore him to pieces.

Fifth Incarnation.

In the time that Mavaly governed the world-i. e., during the golden age of the Indians, there was a wonderful profusion of all things, so that no one would work; no subordination was to be seen, everything was in common, and a man needed only put forth his hand to take whatever he wanted. Vishnu, desirous of putting a stop to a circumstance which

might be attended with very ill consequences, resolved therefore to dethrone Mavaly, and to bring want, hunger, misery, and poverty into the world. To succeed in his attempt, he employed artifice, and assuming the shape of a poor Bramin, presented himself to Mavaly as a beggar craving alms. Mavaly offered him kingdoms and treasures: to which the Bramin answered, that he begged only three fect of ground for himself to inhabit with his baggage, consisting of an umbrella, a book of devotion after the Bramin worship, and a goblet.

It must be observed, that the furniture of a Bramin consists only in these three particulars. He required, at the same time, that for the more solemn ratification of his right to this ground, Mavaly should pour water into his hand. The latter, surprised at the Bramin's modesty, pressed him repeatedly, but in vain, to accept of those advantages which, to all outward appearance, were infinitely greater than the three feet of ground he requested. However, as he was just going to bestow the three feet of ground on the Bramin, Mavaly's wife, suspecting some trick, strongly opposed the grant. But Mavaly refused to forswear himself, and taking the vessel in which the water appointed for the fatal ratification was contained, he poured some of it into the Bramin's hand, who drank it off; when immediately resuming his divinity, he covered the earth with one foot, and heaven with the other: after which, going to appropriate to himself the rest of the ground which the unhappy Mavaly had then granted him, he set his foot upon his throat, and knocked him backwards into the abyss, which he measured at the same time. The husband and wife being thus dethroned by an artifice so unworthy of Vishnu, made heavy complaints to him upon that account, when the god, moved with his complaints, restored Mavaly as king of the abyss. Ever since this revolution, riches and poverty, abundance and misery, prosperity and adversity, the natural result of the inequality of conditions, have alternately prevailed in the world but Vishnu, in order to transmit to posterity a type of the felicity which mankind enjoyed under the reign of Mavaly, instituted a festival called by the Malabarians Ona, and by them celebrated in the month of August; it is a kind of bacchanal, during which the Indians of all ranks and conditions dress themselves as richly as their circumstances will possibly allow, they feast one another to the best of their abilities, and spend that season in joy and festivity.

Sixth Incarnation.

A Bramin, who was a very good man, having married a very virtuous female Bramin, withdrew with his wife to the banks of the river, called by the Indian legends Bewa. They pitched upon this place for their fixed habitation, and resolved there to spend their days in devotion. In this calm state there was one circumstance wanting to complete their happiness, and that was children-the Bramin's wife not bringing him any. The Banians look upon those nuptials as dishonourable which are not crowned with children. Our pious pair, inconsolable at the reproach which was cast upon them, resolved to withdraw to the desert, there to implore, with greater fervency than ever, the blessing of Heaven, in order that they might have children; and for this purpose were resolved to make choice of some remote and unfrequented place. Our couple, after

having long wandered through the fields, at last arrived at a pagod, situated in the midst of a little, but very agreeable grove. Here they offered up very long prayers, but to no effect, which made them conclude that the beauty of the place was the sole cause of their prayers being rejected. Hereupon they resolved to see if they could not succeed better in the plains, and continued, for that purpose, always exposed to the burning rays of the sun, and the inclemencies of the weather. But still this rigorous penance availed them nothing. At last they made a resolution to suffer the extremes of hunger, till such time as it should please the power they worshipped either to hear their prayers, or put an end to their lives. For nine days they underwent this rigorous trial; after which Vishnu appeared to them under the shape of a beautiful child, and asked them the occasion of these repeated austerities. They satisfied his demands; upon which Vishnu revealing himself, promised them three children, and vanished away in an instant. Two of these three children were produced by transmigration; the souls of the Bramin and his wife, whom a too severe abstinence and an over-violent affliction had brought to their graves, transmigrated into the bodies of two new-born children; these afterwards grew up, were married, and gave birth to a child, the last fruit of Vishnu's promise. The father, according to the legend, was called Sandichemi, the mother Rameka, and the child Prasserum : Rameka had a sister that was married to a giant who had a thousand arms.

Seventh Incarnation.

One Rawana, born a Bramin, had formerly an extraordinary devotion for Ixora, to whom he daily offered a hundred flowers. The god Ixora being one day desirous of making a trial of his faith, stole one of them away, and afterwards complained that the oblation was less than usual. Rawana counted the flowers, and, finding but ninety-nine, was immediately disposed to pluck out one of his eyes, to make up the deficiency. Ixora, satisfied with this pledge of his fidelity, would not suffer him to do it, and as an acknowledgment, offered to grant him whatever he should request. The Bramin desired that the government of the world might be committed to him; which was granted. In the mean time, Rawana continued his devout exercises; and his prayers, though they were frequent, were yet very selfish; upon which Ixora spoke to him as follows:-"As I have indulged thee in all thou demandedst of me, why dost thou still continue to address me in prayer? What is it thou now wantest of me?" "I have one thing more to request of thee," says the importunate Rawana, "and that is, to give me ten heads, to govern this universe which thou hast given me, and survey all things in it with my own eyes, and twenty arms, to exercise my power therein." Ixora granted him also this request; after which, Rawana fixed upon Lanca for the place of his residence, and fortified himself very strongly in it; when, after a long and prudent reign, he forgot all his obligations to Ixora, and would have obliged his subjects to acknowledge him only for God. Upon this Vishnu assumed a human shape, and came upon the earth under the name of Ram, the wife of a Rajah bringing him into the world, to chastise Rawana's insolence. Ram performed several wonderful exploits: he first killed Rawana, who had metamorphosed himself into a stag; but the soul of the cunning

Rawana immediately quitted the stag, and went and shot itself into the body of a Faquir. In this new disguise he played Ram a true Faquir's trick, by carrying off his wife Sitha; but Hanuman, the ape-god, revenged this affront which Rawana, transformed into this mock devotee, had put upon Ram. The ape made a dreadful havoc in Lanca; nor were Rawana, or the giants his subjects, able to put a stop to it; and when they, by the virtue of certain magical words, had at last found out the secret of taking Hanuman prisoner, they nevertheless could not put him to death, because of the help that Ram continually afforded him. Rawana asked the ape by what means his strength might be subdued; but the ape imposed upon him, by telling him he must dip his tail in oil, surround it with flax or hemp, and afterwards set fire to it; assuring him that by this means he would lose his strength. Hanuman being thus equipped, set fire to Rawana's palace, and destroyed part of Lanca. We have taken a particular notice of this incident, because of its great resemblance to the story of Samson, and shall add, that Rawana's obstinate refusal to give up the woman he had carried off, the punishment which Ram and his brother Lekeman inflicted upon him on that account, and Ram's passage through the waters, have a great affinity with the history of Moses. At last Ram and Lekeman killed the ravisher Rawana with arrows; and the ape Hanuman fought as bravely for them at this juncture as he had done on former occasions.

Eighth Incarnation,

The history of this incarnation includes several particulars which bear some relation to the life of Moses and that of our Blessed Saviour. Vishnu became man under the form of a child, called in the Indian legend, Kristna, is rescued from the fury of a Raja, who was destined to die by the hand of a child.

Ninth Incarnation.

Vishnu went by the name of Boudhe, in order to reveal himself to men. This Boudhe, according to the doctrine of the Banians, had neither father nor mother he is invisible, and all spirit; but whenever he reveals himself to his faithful servants, under heaven, he assumes the figure under which Vishnu is worshipped by the East Indians. They affirm that Boudhe, who is the mediator of mankind, prays to Mahedu day and night for them.

Tenth Incarnation.

The time for this incarnation is not yet come; Vishnu will one day reveal himself, with Kellenki, or Kelki, which is the name the Bramins give to a white, winged horse, adorned with rich trappings, whom they suppose to be in the heavens: the horse is led by a king, who has a lifted sabre in his hand; and this monarch is undoubtedly Vishnu. The horse has always his right foot lifted up; but whenever he shall think fit to set it down upon the earth, in order to punish the impious and the wicked, it will then sink under the weight of it; the serpent Signag shall then no longer be able to support the earth; the tortoise, oppressed with the weight, shall plunge to the bottom of the sea, and mankind in general shall be destroyed. Such will be the end of the last age of the world; after which the first age is to return again; for the Indians and other idolaters of the East suppose a revolution in the universe, like to that of the Platonists.

SEC. XII.-RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE

LAPLANDERS.

FROM the time that so large a portion of Lapland fell under the dominion of Sweden, repeated attempts were made to convert the natives to the Christian faith; and the same object was diligently prosecuted by the Danish government. The Laplanders, however, continued to retain a strong attachment to their ancient mythology; and, even so late as the middle of the eighteenth century, a great part of the nation secretly worshipped idols, while publicly professing the Christian religion.

To these idols were presented various offerings and sacrifices. Upon any change of habitation, libations were made of whey or milk, to conciliate the guardian divinity of the place; and of brandy to Sacrifices. the Lares or household gods, who were supposed to reside under the fire-place. To conciliate the favour of the deities to their children, sacrifices of sheep or deer were offered, before the child was born : a dog was buried alive at the moment of the birth; and some other animal killed when the infant was at the breast. Offerings and sacrifices were usually made for the removal of epidemic disorders, for success in hunting, &c. In these cases, sometimes the whole of the victim was presented, sometimes only a part, sometimes merely the bones, while the blood was sprinkled upon staves, which were left on the spot, or mingled with the waters of an adjacent river or lake. The liver of a bear, the horns and other parts of a deer, taken in the chase, were very frequently consecrated to the deity of the place.

The Laplanders, according to Picart, worship their gods under the form of a tree, or block of wood, the top of which they form into a rude resemblance of a man's head. In the head they were wont to drive Idols. a large nail, to which was fastened a flint stone, that he might

make himself a fire whenever he found one needful. Sometimes their god was raised upon a kind of table, which served in capacity of an altar. Their domestic deity, or household god, they represented under the form of a large stone, carved in a rude manner, and bearing some resemblance to a human face. The sacrifices which were offered to these idols were presented by a privileged class of men, named Noaaids, who divided the victims with great expertness, and wore at the time of sacrificing a peculiar habit.

The Laplanders still retain much of their ancient superstitious spirit, even in the Christian rites which they have adopted. They particularly regard the sacrament as a powerful charm to preserve them Present state. from the attempts of evil spirits. It is not long since they used to take a cloth with them to church, into which they were accustomed to spit out the sacramental bread, which they wrapped up with great care, and afterwards divided into as great a number as possible of small crumbs. One of these crumbs was given to every one of their cattle, in the full persuasion that the herd would thus be secure from all injury. Their very deficient acquaintance with Christianity may, in some measure, be ascribed to the very inefficient manner in which they are instructed. It has generally been the practice of the Missionaries