ABSTRACT
https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315828060/49546f0e-ce84-4e70-9b40-7107f16ee305/content/ufig_i_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>T now behoves us to leave for a time the ancient civilisation of China and wander far afield throughout the whole world, in order that I may convince my readers that the journey of the Hung Heroes is indeed the journey of the Soul through the Underworld. In the course of our investigation we shall find that certain landmarks continually reappear in the various stories and beliefs which will be discussed in the following chapters. It is clear that these landmarks, such as the Bridge and the Gates, cannot be mere coincidences, and their presence in stories drawn from areas so far apart indicates, either that they have been diffused from some one centre, or that, although independently evolved, they represent facts believed by many races, and are due to a mistaken idea concerning the shape of the world. It seems therefore desirable to describe the early conceptions held by man of the shape of the visible universe. Logically, perhaps, this chapter should follow the legends, since much of the evidence for it is contained in these stories, but to many the legends might prove meaningless if they had not envisaged the world as our ancestors saw it.
