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view, right sense, right speech, right action, right position, right energy, right memory, and right meditation.

Caste was abolished by Buddha himself, and the right of the lower classes, as well as woman, to instruction, admitted. He was not an idolater, and the sacred books, while they encourage the erection of shrines to his memory and the offering of flowers upon these shrines, yet admit no worship of idols. The priests at the present day will profess that they do not worship the idol or idols found in their temples, but the self-existent Buddha, of whom these are only mementos; but it is certain that the masses make no such distinction.

The VINAYA, or ritual of priestly and religious observance, prescribes two hundred and fifty ordinances, which the priests (scavanas, sense tamers) must observe. Of these ten are essential, viz. not to kill, not to steal, to be chaste, not to lie, not to get drunk, not to eat after mid-day, not to sing or dance, to abstain from ornamental dresses, not to use a large bed, and not to receive the precious metals.

The first five of these are incumbent upon all the followers of Buddha, and, under the name of the five commands, are repeated by the priests to the people morning and evening, and responded to by their hearers. Five of the two hundred and fifty ordinances refer to the respect to be paid to Buddha, the laws, and the priests; the remainder comprise ritual observances. The garments of the priest are prescribed; in Ceylon and Farther India they are yellow, in Thibet crimson or violet. The priests are forbidden to marry, and if they have married before becoming priests, they must separate from their wives.

The Vinaya also recognizes different orders of monks and nuns, and prescribes rules for their conduct, dress, mode of life, etc. There are also directions in regard to the conduct and duties of the upasakus and upasakis, the religious servants of the priesthood, who lead a semi-monastic life, without the vows which are required from the monks and nuns. It also enjoins toleration of other religious systems, and forbids per

secution.

The remaining volumes of the Vinaya are occupied with an account of the different orders of saints, of which there are eight or nine, from the teachers of theology to the embryonic

Buddhas; and with litanies, forms of worship, mode of presenting offerings, donations of rice, betel-nuts, etc., for the priests, and other like matters. The priest is required to take the vow of poverty, to possess but three garments, and only such furniture, utensils, etc., as are absolutely necessary for his subsistence. He must recite the requisite prayers, and make the required repetition of the names of Buddha before the shrine for the worshiper; must punctually, morning and evening, rehearse the five commands to the people, and if he would acquire merit, must instruct the youth without reward, and exercise his kindness toward animals, particularly those that are lame, infirm, or decrepid. To feed these with his own flesh is the highest work of merit. We have spoken of the Buddhistic legends as giving presumptive evidence that their compilers had read or heard one of the Gospels. The Vinaya gives similar indications of familiarity with the Mosaic ritual, probably obtained through some copy of the LXX, which, in the frequent intercourse between Egypt and India in the first and second centuries of our era, was not a rare book in India. On the other hand, the school of Alexandria, whose influence upon the early Church was so powerful for evil, undoubtedly acquired the first idea of the monasticism they introduced in the third century, from the Buddhists, and it is not impossible that Gregory the Great drew his notion of the celibacy of the clergy from a similar source.

The practical effects of this religious system upon the natives who profess it remain to be considered. It is not so degrading and licentious, so utterly devoid of morality as Brahminism. Woman occupies a much higher social position, and vice is not so open and unblushing; but a cold, dead atheism has nothing in it to inspire holy living, or high and noble action. There are those among its professors who seek to attain to a high degree of merit; but it is rather by ritual observance, asceticism, repetition of the names of Buddha, or kindness to animals, than by a pure and holy life. There is nothing in the system to inspire elevated thought, noble acts, or generous endeavors. No omniscient eye watches human conduct, no unerring and holy judge punishes wrong doing. Unconsciousness of existence is the highest reward for the most meritorious life, or succession of lives, and the chance of obtaining this is so much

modified by the crimes of former lives that the motives to holiness are not very strong. Then, too, it is a religion whose primal law is intense selfishness. The good of our fellowmen, the feeling of gratitude, or of disinterested love, finds no place in it.

The Buddhist faith is the predominant though not the only religion of Ceylon. It is the national religion of Burmah, Siam, and Farther India generally, of Thibet and Mongolia. It is also the most prominent of the three religions of China and Japan, and has found many adherents among the tribes bordering on the sea of Okhotsk.

In Burmah and the other countries of Farther India, Buddha is usually called Gaudama or Gotama; in China, Fo, Fohi, Fo-thu, O-me-do-veh, or Kio; in Thibet, Sangs-rgyas; in Mongolia, Burchau; in Japan, Budsdo. The adherents of Buddhism number not less than three hundred millions. This great prevalence it has gained, not so much by the earnestness of its apostles in preaching its distinctive doctrines, as by their readiness to assimilate with other forms of religion. Wherever it has penetrated it has absorbed a large portion of the adherents of other creeds by adopting a portion of their forms and tenets, and persuading them that Buddhism was nothing else than a desirable reform of their own system.

It has resulted from this that the Buddhism of Ceylon is one thing and that of China and Thibet quite another. In Thibet and in Japan its priests possess secular as well as spiritual power; in the former country the chief rulers of the nation are two priests, who have attained to the condition of inferior Buddhas. In order to maintain this power in the hands of the priests, the soul of the departing Lama, or spiritual potentate, is said to have passed into the body of a child, whom the priests profess to recognize by certain marks, and elevating him to the throne, govern in his name.

For some centuries subsequent to the death of Buddha, his worship was conducted in grottos and cave temples, on the sculptures of which immense sums were expended. The ruins of many of these still exist, and give evidence of the imposing character of this early worship. The most remarkable among them are the caves at Elephanta, Ellora, and Salsetta; the vast temple of Lava-Matra-Palu in Ceylon, with its 1600 pillars of

hewn stone; and the grotto shrines of Mehentele and Dambulu-galli. The esoteric doctrines of Buddhism, which it is alleged were taught in these temples, are now entirely lost, if they ever had an existence, and the worship of Buddha is now conducted in pagodas, lofty towerlike structures, and his offerings are flowers, while the worshipers bring also rice and betelnut for the priests.

ART. IV.-OLD MACKINAW.

Old Mackinaw: or, The Fortress of the Lakes and its Surroundings. By W. P. STRICKLAND. Philadelphia: J. Challen & Son.

Exposition of Mackinaw City. By E. D. MANSFIELD.

Annals of the West: embracing a Concise Account of the Principal Events which have occurred in the Western States and Territories. By JAMES H. PEKINS.

WHOEVER looks upon the map of North America will be struck with the singular conformation of both land and water round the Straits of Mackinaw. There is scarcely anything in American geography more remarkable. The vast expanse of American lakes, flowing through more than two thousand miles, and covering more than one hundred thousand square miles of water surface, seem here to concentrate; and the three great lakes, Superior, Huron, and Michigan, to speak metaphysically, lay their heads together, as if to consider some notable point. Far to the northwest of the straits stretches Lake Superior, with its clear waters and its pictured rocks. Far to the south lies Lake Michigan, with its long arm at Green Bay; while to the southeast stretch the dark waters of Huron, with its Manitou Islands and its Georgian Sea. But vast as are these inland seas, they here meet together. Superior forms its waters through the Sault of St. Mary's; Michigan rolls through the Straits of Mackinaw, and the magnificent Huron comes up to meet them. That a point so remarkable by nature should become equally so in the growth of a young and rising empire, seems to be a necessary inference from these facts. There are but few points on the earth which present such striking ad

vantages for the pursuits of commerce. If we look upon the map of the globe, we shall find, perhaps, only four or five which have similar features. The Straits of Gibraltar, separating Europe from Africa; Constantinople, on the Bosphorus; Singapore, on the Straits of Malacca; and the Isthmus of Panama, are the only ones which now strike us as presenting a parallel. Singapore has rapidly concentrated Asiatic navigation, and more various people may be found there than at any ocean point. Panama is rising to commercial importance with equal rapidity, while Gibraltar and Constantinople are world-renowned for the value of their positions. Mackinaw presents nearly the same features. Not only do great inland seas here meet together, but on every side of these waters press down great districts of land, rich, various, and abundant in their resources. On the north lies the peninsula of Canada, which, although long regarded as barren and inhospitable, has been recently proved a country of good soil, abundant water, and mild climate. To the south is the peninsula of Michigan, now fast filling up with a thrifty American population. To the west is the great mining region, where copper and iron seem inexhaustible. Thus nature seems to have made this place as rich in the materials as in the channels of commerce. Nor has she placed any barriers in the way of its future growth. Constantinople has its plague, and Panama its fevers; but Mackinaw, grand in its scenery, and opulent in its resources, is equally salubrious in its climate, and inviting to the seekers for health, pleasure, and repose. Here, says Dr. Drake, in his work on the diseases of America, is the minimum of the conditions which give rise to fever; and here is that equability of climate which is so favorable to the consumptive and the invalid from southern climes. That the length and rigor of winter cold may be unfavorable to some of the vegetable products may be admitted, without seriously impairing the advantages of its position for commerce, certainly almost unrivaled in the Western Hemisphere.

Such is the position of Mackinaw, and to this let us now add that it was one of the earliest visited and occupied (as a missionary station) in that great and most prosperous region-the Northwest. The reader will recollect the zeal and energy with which the Jesuit missionaries, some two or three centu

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