As has already been stated, his temperament is not a religious one; and even the seductions and threats of Buddhism leave him to a great extent unmoved.  He is perhaps chiefly influenced by the Buddhist menace of rebirth, possibly as a woman, or worse still as an animal.  Belief in such a contingency may act as a mild deterrent under a variety of circumstances; it certainly tends to soften his treatment of domestic animals.  Not only because he may some day become one himself, but also because among the mules or donkeys which he has to coerce through long spells of exhausting toil, he may be unwittingly belabouring some friend or acquaintance, or even a member of his own particular family.  This belief in rebirth is greatly strengthened by a large number of recorded instances of persons who could recall events which had happened in their own previous state of existence, and whose statements were capable of verification.  Occasionally, people would accurately describe places and buildings which they could not have visited, while many would entertain a dim consciousness of scenes, sights and sounds, which seemed to belong to some other than the present life.  There is a record of one man who could remember having been a horse, and who vividly recalled the pain he had suffered when riders dug their knees hard into his sides.  This, too, in spite of the administration in Purgatory of a cup of forgetfulness, specially designed to prevent in those about to reborn any remembrance of life during a previous birth.

After all, the most awful punishment inflicted in Purgatory upon sinners is one which, being purely mental, may not appeal so powerfully to the masses as the coarse tortures mentioned above.  In the fifth Court, the souls of the wicked are taken to a terrace from which they can hear and see what goes on in their old homes after their own deaths.  “They see their last wishes disregarded, and their instructions disobeyed.  The property they scraped together with so much trouble is dissipated and gone.  The husband thinks of taking another wife; the widow meditates second nuptials.  Strangers are in possession of the old estate; there is nothing to divide amongst the children.  Debts long since paid are brought again for settlement, and the survivors are called upon to acknowledge false claims upon the departed.  Debts owed are lost for want of evidence, with endless recriminations, abuse, and general confusion, all of which falls upon the three families—­father’s, mother’s, and wife’s—­connected with the deceased.  These in their anger speak ill of him that is gone.  He sees his children become corrupt, and friends fall away.  Some, perhaps, may stroke the coffin and let fall a tear, departing quickly with a cold smile.  Worse than that, the wife sees her husband tortured in gaol; the husband sees his wife a victim to some horrible disease, lands gone, houses destroyed by flood or fire, and everything in an unutterable plight—­the reward of former sins.”