At the extremity of the earth southwards, floating on the waters, is Sŭngyŭmŭnēē, the residence of Yŭmŭ, the judge of the dead, and of his recorder Chitrŭ-gooptŭ, and his messengers. Yŭmŭ has four arms, is of a dark colour, with eyes like the petal of the water-lily; in his hands he holds a shell, a discus, a club, and a lotus; he rides on Gŭroorŭ; wears a golden poita, and pearl ear-rings; and has a crown on his head, and a garland of flowers round his neck. Chitrŭ-gooptŭ, the recorder, and Yŭmŭ's attendants, appear in the most pleasing forms.

Those who perform works of merit are led to Yŭmŭ's palace along the most excellent roads, in some parts of which the heavenly courtezans are seen dancing or singing; and gods, gŭndhŭrvŭs, &c. are heard chanting the praises of other gods; in others showers of flowers are falling from heaven; in other parts are houses containing cooling water, and excellent food; pools of water covered with nymphœas; and trees, affording fragrance by their blossoms and shade by their leaves. The gods are seen to pass on horses or elephants, with white umbrellas carried over them; or in palanqueens or chariots, fanned with the chamŭrŭs of the gods: while the dévŭrshees are chanting their praises as they pass along.

The Hindoos have deified their shastrŭs, which, on different occasions, they worship with the same ceremonies as an idol, anointing the book with perfumes, and adorning it with garlands.

At the reading of any part of the védŭs, the Chŭndēē, and other works, the book to be read is always addressed as an idol. At such times the worshipper thus prays to the book: ‘Oh! book! thou art the goddess of learning, bestow learning upon me.’

When an individual employs a bramhŭn to recite to his family and neighbours the Mŭhabharŭtŭ, ·Ramayŭnŭ, Shrēē-bhagŭvŭtŭ, or any other pooranŭ, the worship of the work recited is performed on the first and last days at considerable length, many offerings being presented: each day's recital is also preceded by a short service paid to the book.

At the festival in honour of the goddess Sŭrŭswŭtēē any one of the shastrŭs is adopted and worshipped, joined with the pen and inkstand.

The followers of Vishnoo, and especially the mendicant voiragēēs, pay a still greater reverence than the regular Hindoos to the books they esteem sacred. These books relate to the amours of Krishnŭ, or to the mendicants Choitŭnyŭ and Nityanŭndŭ.

The history of the resurrection of Christ is a part of the evidence of Christianity: but I do not know, whether the proper strength of this passage of the Christian history, or wherein its peculiar value, as a head of evidence, consists, be generally understood. It is not that, as a miracle, the resurrection ought to be accounted a more decisive proof of supernatural agency than other miracles are; it is not that, as it stands in the Gospels, it is better attested than some others; it is not, for either of these reasons, that more weight belongs to it than to other miracles, but for the following, viz. That it is completely certain that the apostles of Christ, and the first teachers of Christianity, asserted the fact. And this would have been certain, if the four Gospels had been lost, or never written. Every piece of Scripture recognises the resurrection. Every epistle of every apostle. every author contemporary with the apostles, of the age immediately succeeding the apostles, every writing from that age to the present, genuine or spurious, on the side of Christianity or against it, concur in representing the resurrection of Christ as an article of his history, received without doubt or disagreement by all who called themselves Christians, as alleged from the beginning by the propagators of the institution, and alleged as the centre of their testimony.

We acknowledge that the Christian religion, although it converted great numbers, did not produce an universal, or even a general conviction in the minds of men, of the age and countries in which it appeared. And this want of a more complete and extensive success, is called the rejection of the Christian history and miracles; and has been thought by some to form a strong objection to the reality of the facts which the history contains.

The matter of the objection divides itself into two parts; as it relates to the Jews, and as it relates to Heathen nations: because the minds of these two descriptions of men may have been, with respect to Christianity, under the influence of very different causes. The case of the Jews, in asmuch as our Saviour's ministry was originally addressed to them, offers itself first to our consideration.

Now, upon the subject of the truth of the Christian religion; with us, there is but one question, viz. whether the miracles were actually wrought? From acknowledging the miracles, we pass instantaneously to the acknowledgement of the whole. No doubt lies between the premises and the conclusion. If we believe the works or any one of them, we believe in Jesus. And this order of reasoning is become so universal and familiar, that we do not readily apprehend how it could ever have been otherwise.

SECT. I.—Form of Initiation into the Hindoo Religion.

Every Hindoo receives an initiating incantation from some bramhŭn, who then becomes his spiritual guide, (gooroo:) the principal thing in this incantation is the name of some god, who becomes his (ishtŭ) chosen deity, and by repeating whose name he is to obtain present and future happiness.

When the ceremony of initiation is to be performed, an auspicious day is chosen, which is preceded by a fast. On the morning of the day appointed, the disciple bathes; after which, entreating the priest to sit down, he presents him with some cloth, kourees, betle-nut, and a poita: after which he performs the ceremony called sŭnkŭlpŭ, in doing which he first takes in his joined hands a small copper dish, with some water in it; lays a plantain, some flowers, sesamum, kooshŭ-grass, rice, &c. upon it; and then says, ‘For the removal of all my sins, and to obtain happiness after death, I take the incantation from my gooroo.’ The gooroo then performs, at some length, the worship of the god whose name is to be given; to which succeeds the burnt-offering. He next thrice repeats, in the right ear of the disciple, the incantation: after which the disciple presents a fee of from one to twenty roopees, and worships the feet of the gooroo, presenting sweetmeats, cloths, flowers, fruits, and other offerings commonly presented to the gods.

SECT. I.—Pŭnchanŭnŭ

Is a form of Shivŭ: the image has five faces, and in each face three eyes. Some persons make a clay image, and worship it with the usual forms, adding bloody sacrifices; while others worship Pŭnchanŭnŭ before a stone placed underneath the vŭtŭ, ŭshwŭt'ht'hŭ, or koolŭ trees. This stone is painted red at the top, and anointed with oil. Offerings of flowers, fruits, water, sweetmeats, and fried peas accompany the worship, and sometimes bloody sacrifices. In almost every village this worship is performed beneath some one of these trees. In some villages several of these shapeless stones are to be seen thus anointed, and consecrated to the worship of this god. In other places the clay images of Pŭnchanŭnŭ are placed in houses, or under trees; and old women, called dyasinēēs devote themselves to his service: they sweep the inside of the clay temple, and repeat the ceremonies of worship for others; constantly remaining near the image, and receiving all offerings and presents. Not more than one woman waits upon one idol, unless she admit a pupil, who expects to succeed her. These women, either married or widows, are treated almost as witches.

In another part of this work we have given, amongst the gods, an account of Choitŭnyŭ, and of the origin of the sect to which he gave rise. We shall therefore now merely notice the principles, numbers, and moral state of this sect.

Choitŭnyŭ, though he rejected the institution of the cast, does not appear to have introduced any new doctrines among his followers. He adopted as the object of worship one of the Hindoo gods, Krishnŭ, under the form of Hŭree; and gave his disciples an initiatory incantation containing this name. He declared, that most of the ceremonies of the Hindoos were unprofitable; but inculcated repetitions of the name of Hŭree; bowing and presenting offerings to his image; as well as devotion of mind to this god, under the characters of servant, friend, &c.—He taught that there was no merit in pilgrimages to sacred places, but that journies in search of the devout and wise were not improper. His attachment to Hŭree, to the exclusion of the other gods, had no reference to the doctrine of the unity of God; he admitted the Hindoo mythology, but taught his disciples to devote themselves only to Hŭree. The other ceremonies of the Hindoos, he did not reject as errors; but declared, that in the kŭlee yoogŭ they were not necessary. He taught, that the devout worshipper of Hŭree would obtain heaven by his devotion.

The Pedal

This is a rough piece of wood, (termed dhénkee,) generally the trunk of a tree, balanced on a pivot, with a head something like a mallet; it is used to separate the rice from the husk, to pound brick-dust for buildings, &c. A person stands at the farthest end, and with his feet presses it down, which raises up the head; after which he lets it fall on the rice, or brick-ends. One of these pedals is get up at almost every house in country places.

The origin of this worship is thus given:—A religious guide, being called upon to give the initiating incantation to one of his disciples, commanded him to repeat the word dhénkee, dhénkee. Narŭdŭ, the god of the dhénkee, pleased with the disciple, visited him, riding on a pedal, and gave him as a blessing another incantation, by which he immediately became perfect, and ascended to heaven.

The pedal is worshipped at the time of marriage, of investiture with the poita, of giving the first rice to a child, and at any other particular time of rejoicing. The women are the worshippers. It is also worshipped in the month Voishakhŭ by all casts of females, not excepting the wives of the most learned bramhŭns; who consecrate it by putting red, white, or yellow paint, and also some rice, dōōrva grass, and oil on its head.

As Mr. Marsden's official duties at the Colony required his return as soon as possible, he was apprehensive of prolonging his stay in this harbour, lest the ship might not have taken in her cargo before the time allowed by his limited leave of absence should expire; and for this reason he was anxious to get back without more delay to the Bay of Islands, not choosing by any means to trespass on the indulgence of the Governor. Accordingly, the ship getting under sail with a fine breeze from the south west, we left this interesting part of New Zealand, January 19th, at an early hour in the morning. It was not however without sensations of regret, at not being able to see more of the character and habits of the people in this quarter, as well as of the nature of the country itself, that I now took my departure from it; and as this place had particularly attracted the attention of Captain Cook, I felt the greater desire to be better acquainted with its internal situation. The following is his description of it, which, so far as I could ascertain, is perfectly correct, (excepting what relates to the security of the bay as a road for shipping,) and may here supply that information which, from the circumstance I have mentioned, it is not in my power to afford.

Returning to Wycaddee, we found Wiveeah sitting upon the roof of a house, which is frequently done by the chiefs, with the view of signifying in this manner their elevated dignity above the rest of their people.

He received us in very bad humour, and it appeared to us as if the chief, who accompanied us to his district, and who not joining us in our excursion to the forests, remained behind, had in our absence excited in his mind some suspicions as to the object of our visit. We found them both in conversation together on our return, and we had every reason to suppose that we were not wrong in our conjectures. Wiveeah told Mr. Marsden, with evident signs of jealous resentment, that we had shewn a predilection for Tarra and Tupee, by giving axes to each of them, while we neglected himself; and spoke with such a tone of indignant anger, as plainly shewed how much we had provoked him by this supposed preference. Mr. Marsden, anxious to pacify him, began to remonstrate, by telling him that he had known the others first; but, that if he would come on board the vessel, he would not only give him an axe, but also some seed wheat, the nature and use of which he explained to him.