ther this was true or a mere invention of some unprincipled villager, the old man did not care to enquire, he was but too ready to believe what he had all along strongly suspected. When he heard it, he was maddened with anger. He could not bear the idea of his beloved son being snatched away from him by foul play. He had in traintaken great pains and had been put to considerable expence ing his favorite son to the profession of an astrologer, and to be thus suddenly disappointed, just as he was about to reap the reward of all his labours in the fame and glory of his son, was past all human endurance, especially the endurance of our old carpenter, who seldom raised his chisel or his adze without consulting an astrologer for an auspicious hour. The old man burning with rage and resentment, resolved to have his revenge. He had a neighbour who, being something of a sportsman, had a gun. He had also a mango tree in his compound, the fruit of which was every day devoured by monkeys, so he asked his neighbour for the loan of his gun to drive off these troublesome robbers. Every day, when monkeys were seen on or near his mango tree, he took out the loaded it carefully, and first levelling it at the intruding monkeys, turned and fired it in a different direction; for it was a great sin to kill animals, especially monkeys. Besides, he was an Upasakaya.*

gun,

* An Upasakaya is a religious Buddhist, or at least one who professes to be so, by the observance of certain precepts of Buddha called Sil or Seela. These precepts or obligations are.

7. Do not attend at dancing, singing, music, and masquerades.

8.

Do not adorn the body with flowers, perfumes, or unguents.

Of these the first five, called Pan Sil or Pancha Seela, are considered to be obThese five with the next three, forming eight Obligations, are One professing to observe these eight is called an Upasakaya.

ligatory on all.

called Ata Sil.

So this sort of shooting at monkeys continued for three or four weeks. One evening, as the astrologer was returning home from another village, and was moving along a footpath flanked on both sides by thick bushes, he was shot by somebody concealed among the bushes and lived only a few hours. The Jury, who tried the old carpenter, at once acquitted him, as, although there was as usual a good deal of false evidence put in, which from its nature was not, and could not be, believed, there was not a tittle of trustworthy evidence against him, excepting the mere fact of his having had at his house a gun borrowed from a neighbour to shoot monkeys. But all the villagers knew to a certainty that the old man was the murderer.

Instances like the above can be multiplied by hundreds, if necessary; but the few already cited will, we think, be sufficient to give the reader some idea of the nature of the evils, which a belief in the power of charms often produces among our countrymen ; a belief, which is not confined to those, whom we are in the habit of styling common people, but which prevails equally, though with less serious consequences, among Singhalese of a higher class and condition, with the exception of a very few well educated intelligent people, not exceeding, we firmly believe, four or five hundred individuals in the whole island.

There is a peculiarity, very general among the Singhalese, that if an European questions a Cattadiya about any particular department of his art, he will give just such answers, as he thinks will be most in accordance with the opinions of the querist, as far as it can be done without wholly condemning the entire system; but whenever there appears to be no chance of avoiding this last dilemma, he will make every possible excuse to make a hasty retreat, without entangling himself in the difficulties of a discussion, in which he knows he will not be able to triumph. If an Englishman tells an advocate of Demonism that charms and Demon Ceremonies are mere follies; that no benefit whatever can be derived from them; that they are mere impostures intended to delude the ignorant'; and that the most learned Cattadiya cannot satisfactorily prove that they

possess any of the powers ascribed to them; the answer most probably will be-" Sir, I don't know much about these things myself; my forefathers have believed in them, my neighbours still do so, and what is good for them cannot, I think, do any harm to myself. Possibly much of what you say may be true, and certainly a great deal of what now goes under the name of charms is spurious, and many of the Cattadiyas are ignorant impostures. Really, Sir, I don't understand these things well, but there may be some, who can perhaps satisfy you on the subject, though I cannot." Or he will say "Sir, I don't know whether these things be true or false. When we fall sick, we try every means within our reach of getting better. We worship Buddha, the gods, and the demons, all at once, to take our chance of recovering from the sickness through the help of some of them. All my countrymen do so, and I am only doing like them." The demeanour of the man during this conversation is like that of one, who has been convinced of the absurdity of his worship, and who is anxious to profit by the advice of a superior, although he evinces considerable impatience at being stopped, and is anxious to get away as soon as possible. The moment he turns his back however, he will go away laughing at his own skill in answering so well and cursing, or at least pitying the Englishman for being an infidel and a Christian. Hence many an Englishman is led to believe that Demon Worship has not at present a firm hold of the minds of a portion of the people, and that it is upheld amongst a few merely because custom, or habit has made it familiar to them. Nothing can be more erroneous than this opinion; for so far from a portion of the people being indifferent to Demon Worship from a conviction that it is an absurdity, we believe there is not (excepting 4 or 5 hundred well educated men in the whole Island) one Singhalese man, who believes in any thing more firmly than in Demonism. In Colombo and its immediate neighbourhood alone, where the superstition does not command many zealous votaries, there are some few who have no great faith in charms, or who, though believing in them, have no opportunity of reducing that belief into practice in the form of Demon cere

monies; but in all other parts of the Island, Demonism exercises a more commanding influence over the every day life and thoughts of a Singhalese, than any other ism that we know of.

THE FIRST DISCOURSE DELIVERED BY BUDDHA.

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Translated by the late REV. D. J. GOGERLY, Chairman of the Wesleyan Mission in South Ceylon, and presented for publication by the REV. R. S. HARDY, M. R. A. s.

On the birth of the prince Gotama, according to the native authorities, it was known to certain Brahmins, from the signs they saw upon his person, that he would become a supreme Buddha. They themselves were too aged to expect to live until the time when he would attain to this high position; but they instructed their sons to prepare for places of privilege under the new dispensation. Of these young Brahmins, only five were obedient to parental advice. They retired to the forest of Uruwela, to await the assumption of the Buddhaship by the prince. Not long after Gotama had renounced the allurements of the palace, they met with him in the place of his retreat, and remained with him six years, hoping continually that the time in which he was to practise austerities would cease. But when this period had passed over, and the prince, as he had done before, began to carry the almsbowl as a mendicant, without attaining the object for which he had become an ascetic, their patience was exhausted, and they left him, retiring to the neighbourhood of Benares.

It was the wish of Gotama, on becoming Buddha, to say bana, or to preach, in the first instance, to Alara and Uddaka, two ascetics whom he had previously met with, whilst wandering in the forest; but when he learnt that they were already dead, he looked for the locality of the five Brahmins, and when he saw that they were near Benares, he repaired thither to open his commission as the all-wise teacher. They received him with reverence and worship. The preparations for this first sermon of the Tathagats