PRAYING TO THE WEST.
(Vol. viii., p. 208.)
Although going over old ground, yet, if it be permitted, I would note a curious coincidence connected with this far-spread veneration for the West.
As mentioned by G. W., the Puranas point to the "Sacred Isles of the West" as the elysium of the ancient Hindûs, "The White Islands of the West." The Celtæ of the European continent believed that their souls were transported to England, or some islands adjacent. (See Encyclopédié Méthodique, art. "Antiquités," vol. i. p. 704.) The Celtic elysium, "Flath-Innis," a remote island of the West, is mentioned by Logan in his Celtic Gaël, vol. ii. p. 342., who no doubt drew his information from the same source as Professor Rafinesque, whose observations on this subject I transcribe, viz.:
"It is strange but true, that, throughout the earth, the place of departed souls, the land of spirits, was supposed to be in the West, or at the setting sun. This happens everywhere, and in the most opposite religions, from China to Lybia, and also from Alaska to Chili in America. The instances of an eastern paradise were few, and referred to the eastern celestial abode of yore, rather than the future abode of souls. The Ashinists, or Essenians, the best sect of Jews, placed Paradise in the Western Ocean; and the Id. Alishe, or Elisha of the Prophets, the happy land. Jezkal (our Ezekiel) mentions that island; the Phœnicians called it Alizut, and some deem Madeira was meant, but it had neither men nor spirits! From this the Greeks made their Elysium and Tartarus placed near together, at first in Epirus, then Italy, next Spain, lastly in the ocean, as the settlers travelled west. The sacred and blessed islands of the Hindus and Lybians were in this ocean; Wilford thought they meant the British Islands. Pushcara, the farthest off, he says, was Iceland, but may have meant North America.
"The Lybians called their blessed islands 'Aimones;' they were the Canaries, it is said, but likely the Atlantides, since the Atlantes dwelt in the Aimones," &c.
And farther he says, the Gauls had their Cocagne, the Saxons their Cockaign, Cocana of the Lusitanians,—
"A land of delight and plenty, which is proverbial to this day! By the Celts it was called 'Dunna feadhuigh,' a fairy land, &c. But all these notions have earlier foundations, since the English Druids put their paradise in a remote island in the west, called 'Flath-Innis,' the flat island", &c.—American Nations, vol. ii. p. 245. et infra.
The coincidence then is this. The same veneration for the West prevails among many of our Indian tribes, who place their Paradise in an island beyond the Great Lake (Pacific), and far toward the setting sun. There, good Indians enjoy a fine country abounding in game, are always clad in new skins, and live in warm new lodges. Thither they are wafted by prosperous gales; but the bad Indians are driven back by adverse storms, wrecked on the coast, where the remains of their canoes are to be seen covering the strand in all directions.
I cannot refrain from adding here another coincidence connected with futurity. The above idea of sailing to the Indian Paradise, though prevalent, is not general; for instance, the Minnetarees and Mandans believed that to reach Paradise the souls of the departed had to pass over an extremely narrow bridge, which was done safely by the good Indians, but the bad ones slipped off and were buried in oblivion. (See Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, vol. i. p. 259.)
The Chepewa crosses a river on a bridge formed by the body of a large snake (see Long's Expedition to St. Peter's River, vol. i. p. 154.); and in the same volume it is stated that the Dacota, or Sioux, believe they must pass over a rock with a sharp edge like a knife. Those who fall off go to the region of evil spirits, where they are worked, tormented, and frequently flogged unmercifully.
Now, this bridge for gaining Paradise is just the Alsirat of the Mahomedans; I think it will be found in the Bibliothèque Orientale of D'Herbelot; at all events it is mentioned in the preliminary discourse to Sale's Koran. Sale thinks Mahomet borrowed the idea from the Magians, who teach, that on the last day all mankind must pass over the "Pûl Chînavad" or "Chînavar," i.e. "The Straight Bridge." Farther, the Jews speak of the "Bridge of Hell," which is no broader than a thread. According to M. Hommaire de Hell, the Kalmuck Alsirat is a bridge of iron (or causeway) traversing a sea of filth, urine, &c. When the wicked attempt to pass along this, it narrows beneath them to a hair's breadth, snaps asunder, and thus convicted they are plunged into hell. (Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian, &c., p. 252.)
Having already trespassed most unconscionably, I forbear farther remark on these coincidences, except that such ideas of futurity being found amongst nations so widely separated, cannot but induce the belief of a common origin, or at least of intimate communication at a former period, and that so remote as to have allowed time for diverging dialects to have become, as it were, distinct languages.
A. C. M.
Exeter.