478 THE WILD TRIBES OF THE MALAY PENINSULA. 



a paradise), which they not iint"re(iuently identity with the moon. To 

 reach this island they are compelled to cross a boiling lake resembling 

 a copper, by means of a narrow bridge formed of a fallen tree trunk, 

 and the souls of the wicked, failing to accomplish this in' safety, fall 

 off the log into the lake, where they swim about desperatel}- for three 

 long years, clutching at the smooth sides of the lake, after which the 

 chief of the Island of Fruit Trees, if he so thinks fit, contemptuously 

 lets down to them one of his feet so that they may catch hold of his 

 great toe, in which undignified fashion they are at length permitted to 

 escape from piirgator^^ and to enter paradise. 



