The Bridge of the Dead is one of the well-marked myths of
the Old World. The Zarathustrian religion recognizes the

1 Humboldt & Bonpland, vol. ii. p. 276. -D'Orbigny, 'L'Homme Amencain;'
vol. ii. p. 102. A closely related version of the heaven-tree among the Guarayos,
Martius, 'Ethnog. Amer. ,' vol. i. p. 218. The following are to be added to the group
of myths. The Waraus of the Essequibo district lived in heaven till Okonorote went
after a shot arrow which had fallen through a hole in the sky ; seeing the earth he
made a rope ladder by which his people descended, till a fat one stuck in the hole and
made return impossible, Bastian, ' Rechtsverhaltnisse,' p. 291. The Ahts of Van-
couver's Island know of an ascent by a rope to a region above the earth, Sproat,
'Scenes of Savage Life,' London, 1868, p. 176. In the White Kile district, the
Kych and Bari say God made all men good, and they lived with him in heaven, but
as some of them turned bad he let them down by » rope to the earth ; the good
could climb up again by this rope to the sky, where there was dancing and beer and
all was joyous, but the rope broke (or a bird bit it through) so there is no going up to
heaven now ; it is closed to men. A. Kaufmann, 'Gebiet des Weissen Flusses,'
Bi-ixen, 1861, p. 125. [Note to 3rd Edition.]



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MYTHS. 359

bridge Chinvat, made by Ahura-Mazda, whither souls of the
dead on their way to give account of their deeds in life must
come, the good to pass over, the wicked to fall into the abyss ; to
this day the Parsi declares in solemn confession of his faith,
that he is wholly without doubt in the stepping over the bridge
Chinvat. 1 Perhaps it was from this Persian source that the
myth found its way into Kabbinical literature, 2 and into the ac-
cepted belief of Islam. Over the midst of the Moslem Hell
stretches the bridge Es-Sirat, finer than a hair, and sharper than
the edge of a sword. There all souls of the dead must pass
along, but while the good reach the other side in safety, the
wicked fall off into the abyss. 