r quoting
it. Only I must warn my readers, lest the extract should leave too deep an
impression on their memory, that what M. Jacolliot calls a simple
translation from Sanskrit is, as far as I can judge, a simple invention of
some slightly mischievous Brahman, who, like the Pandits of Lieutenant
Wilford, took advantage of the zeal and credulity of a French judge:--

"Having created the Man and the Woman (_simultaneously_, not one after the
other), and animated them with the divine afflatus--the Lord said unto
them: 'Behold, your mission is to people this beautiful Island [Ceylon],
where I have gathered together everything pleasant and needful for your
subsistence--the rest of the Earth is as yet uninhabitable, but should your
progeny so increase as to render the bounds of paradise too narrow a
habitation, let them inquire of me by sacrifice and I will make known my
will.'

"And thus saying, the Lord disappeared....

"Then Adam and Eve dwelt together for a time in perfect happiness; but ere
long a vague disquietude began to creep upon them.... The Spirit of Evil,
jealous of their felicity and of the work of Brahma, inspired them with
disturbing thoughts;--'Let us wander through the Island,' said Adam to his
companion, 'and see if we may not find some part even more beautiful than
this.' ...

"And Eve followed her husband ... wandering for days and for months; ...
but as they advanced the woman was seized with strange and inexplicable
terrors: 'Adam,' said she, 'let us go no farther: it seems to me that we
are disobeying the Lord; have we not already quitted the place which he
assigned us for a dwelling and forbade us to leave?'

" 'Fear not,' replied Adam; 'this is not that fearful wilderness of which
he spake to us.' ....

"And they wandered on....

"Arriving at last at the extremity of the Island, they beheld a smooth and
narrow arm of the sea, and beyond it a vast and apparently boundless
country, connected with their Island only by a narrow and rocky pathway
arising from the bosom of the waters.

"The wanderers stood amazed: the country before them was covered with
stately trees, birds of a thousand colors flitting amidst their foliage.

"... 'Behold, what beautiful things!' cried Adam, 'and what good fruit
such trees must produce; ... let us go and taste them, and if that country
is better than this, we will dwell there.'

"Eve, trembling, besought Adam to do nothing that might irritate the Lord
against