The Origin of Belief in the Soul.
* * * I had waited at some distance, and as the day grew stronger, saw that this new grave was not the only one upon that lonely height.
On my right was a mound on which lay the betel-box, the pipe, the haversack, and “dah” (or chopper-knife) that in life had been his who lay beneath. I turned to rest on the trunk of a fallen tree, when I heard the sound of footsteps. The childless man and woman were passing. I knew the man, and I spoke to him. He had often been my guide in former visits to his village. He stopped. His wife passed on. I asked, tenderly I hope, as to his child. What was the cause of death?
“Fever.” Then he squatted down, drew out his pipe, filled and lit it.
“Whose grave is that?” I asked, pointing to the mound with the betel-box and “dah.”
“One of the men of my village,” he replied; “he died some months ago.”
“Why do you leave his betel-box, haversack, and ‘dah’ on the grave? What use can it be to him?”
“It is our custom.”
“But why?”