This leads us to consider what they believe with regard to futurity. That the soul lives after death is the general assent, and that it is a final state; but by pursuing the inquiry we do not arrive at any certain idea of the soul's occupation there. They always say they don't know. This much, however, some acknowledge, that when they die, their spirit is taken to the south, to a warm country; but this place does not appear to be either in the earth or in the heavens. Here is a state of happiness free from all distress, want, war or accidents. Some are more comfortably situated than others, particularly great warriors and those who have paid especial attention to their religious ceremonies and have offered large sacrifices. No punishment for offense is apprehended, but all is peace, plenty and harmony. If more minutely questioned, they will describe a counterpart of the Mohammedan paradise, or a shadowy image of this life, abstracting the evil. Many of the Indian tribes speak dismally of the future of the wicked; their abode is a place of desolation, destitute of fruits and roots, of animals of all kinds, where perpetual winter reigns - marshy and miry, filled with dangerous reptiles of every description - whilst in the portion of the good reign eternal summer and sunshine, an abundance of the choicest animals of the chase, of fruits and of roots - a place of peace and of never-ending happiness.
There is no resurrection of the body in the creed of the Indians, though they are presumed to have bodies given them in the future state, presenting the same features as in this life, partaking of its nature, but not subject to the same vicissitudes of accidents, sickness, etc. Amongst some there appears to be the idea of two souls, one of the body, which hovers forever near the burial place, and the other of the mind, admitted to this southern paradise. As I have said above, animals of all kinds are found there. It does not appear they are souls of the same who died on this earth, neither is their state of happiness of eternal duration. Reasoning powers and immortality are not ascribed to the