THE continuance of the human soul's life is conditioned in various ways in different regions and stages of culture. Some tribes assign to souls a definite number of Post-mortem lives, which number may, however, have stood for indefinite continuance, being the tradition remaining from an earlier stage when ability to count above a small aggregate was uncommon. Thus Dyaks allot to the soul seven lives, after which it is annihilated.[1]Or continuance may be not the common fate, only that of a select few. The basis of selection then naturally varies.[2] It may be that of descent or station in life. Thus only chiefs survive in Fiji, and among the Tongans of the South Sea Islands.[3] Or the
[1. Gomes, Sea Dyaks of Borneo, p. 208.
2. Carpenter, Comparative Religion, p. 232.
3 Mariner, Natives of Tonga Islands, ii. 29 ff.]
mode of death may have something to do with it, as when New Guineans separate souls according as they died by sword or by magic--the two causes of death allowed to exist by this people.[4] Or (and this state of affairs exists, almost certainly, only in a somewhat advanced stage of culture) ethical standards may be established, and future life may be conditioned on compliance with such standards in this life. Such an idea may be found in a comparatively small area, neighboring regions showing no knowledge of such a test.' On the other hand, it has happened that while such standards ostensibly exist, magical practices in effect reduce the test to its lowest terms or even to the vanishing point. So with the "Negative Confession" of Egypt. This is clear from its evident use by practically every or any person, independent of character, who was by the formula of the Book of the Dead primed to override or evade obstacles to the passing of the soul to the happy abode. In parts of Melanesia the ultimate death of the soul is maintained, its
Belief that the soul is reincarnated in human posterity is so natural, once the idea