444 A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



k 



"yet it is more powerful than any otlier gun, however new ") ; 

 besides these there is a bair containina: the vestments of the 



o * o 



priest, which are a broad band of scarlet cloth for his head, a 

 circular breastj)late of gold, worn suspended on the neck ; two 

 gold discs, about 15 centimetres in diameter, to cover the ears ; 

 a broad crown of gold, with two long buifalo-like horns of the 

 same material projecting from it, and gold armlets and earrings. 

 Within this enclosure there is, besides, the most sacred object 

 of all — the Vatu-Lnli^ or stone on which the oiferings are laid 

 to tlie invisible deity. Each of these stones they believe to 

 have been given to the people of Timor for this purpose ^vhen 

 the universe was made* In the larger portion of the building 

 there is a fire-place, and vessels and cooking utensils sacred to 

 the use of the Uma-Luli. - 



■ 



The different buildings are fitted up iu the same w^ay, but 

 only on high occasions is the central one opened. It is kept 

 open during the whole time of war, and in it quarrels arisin 

 between the different districts of the kingdom are arranged. 

 In times offload or of droujrht or of famine an offeriniiis made 





J_.^^ V* ^^ ^vw***^^^ *^»^ v.*.^***-„ 



to ward off this disaster. If a man lias an ordinary sickness 

 in his house, he does not consult either of the larger Lt(U 

 houses, but offers a fowl or a pig to the Lull — at a little railed- 

 off portion— in his own house. If he should lose several 

 members of his family, or he be oppressed by any other great 

 distress, he then applies to the priest for permission to speak 

 mth the Litli. Then, bringing rice with a pig or a fowl, he 

 enters the TJma-LuU Avith the Bato, each going in by his own 

 door. AVhen the Bato has put on his proper vestments he 

 kills the fowl or other animal, and having placed a piece ot 

 flesh from its heart and the side of its head on the Vatu-LuU, 

 or altar-stone, he cooks the rest along with the rice on the fire 

 in the Lidi house. After both have partaken of this food, the 

 Data converses with the Luli, and thereafter turning to the 

 applicant he gives him siri and pinang-nut, with the assurance 

 that the sickness will depart or his difficulty disappear, Before 

 planting their Indian corn or paddy crop, they kill a pig or 

 fowl, and both on their own Lidi stone and on that in the sacred 

 house common to the district, they lay a piece of its flesh. 



Their greatest ceremonial, however, takes place on the eve 

 of a -war. I shall never forget the graphic description given 



