154 W. Doherty — The Butterflies of Sumha and Sanihawa, Sfc. [No. 2, 



me, but eat sucTi a man, my enemy." But the chief Sumhanese deity is 

 Merapu (the name is obviously equivalent to the Sambawan Perafu), who 

 is the hearth-god, a kind of aggregation, I imagine, of the ancestral 

 spirits. But some say he is a man who lives in Masu, and is a kind of 

 intercessor with the great gods for men, and especially for kings. He 

 is described as black in hue, for when I asked why the Sumbanese 

 dressed wholly in black, they replied that it was Merapu's colour. The 

 largest insect in the island, the black biitterfly I have named Papilio 

 merapu, is sacred to him. They pray to him in the forest, placing betel, 

 siri, and a bit of gold or silver on a leaf, and setting it on the ground 

 say " Merapu, give me this and that, pasturage for my horses, rain 

 for my maize, and vengeance for my wrongs." Slaves pray to Merapu 

 that the king may live a hundred {ngasu) years, for they are afraid of 

 being sacrificed at his death. 



The houses are large, with a thatched roof pointed at the top, and 

 a floor raised five or six feet above the ground. Inside, the fireplace is 

 always surrounded by four posts. That on the right hand on entering is 

 called Merapu's post, and the enclosure is sacred to the god. Oaths are 

 taken by laying the hand on this post, and no one is allowed to sing or 

 play the guitar indoors when a fire is on the hearth. 



Houses are gathered in a paraing (generally called pare) or village, 

 or in a negeri (Sanskrit, through the Javanese) or town. The political 

 unit, at least in the interior, is a group of open villages, protected by a 

 fortress (hota, Sanskrit through the Javanese). Thus Watupeli is the 

 central fortress of Melolo, Kamanu of Mandas, and LambanajDU of 

 Kambera. On the plains, these fortresses are defended by intricate 

 cactus hedges, but I was told that in Laura (I think) towns are 

 strongly walled with stone, as is the case with some of the hill forts 

 elsewhere. These last are often very striking. Lateng in the 

 Taimanu state, is built on a sharp spur of the mountains, the col 

 connecting it with the main mass fortified by wall after wall. On the 

 other side, the hill descends at a very steep angle to the river a thousand 

 feet below, and this almost inaccessible gorge is so industriously culti- 

 vated as to be a perfect nest of verdure in this dreary country. In times 

 of peace these forts are often left almost unguarded. Once I lost my way 

 at nightfall in the Kiritana district, but when the moon rose I struck a 

 path, and rode through a country of alternate thorny jungle, and 

 meadows studded with great upright blocks of coral-like tombstones, 



and straggles, so tliat it is necessary to quiet him with more food, and begin the 

 prayers again. When the prayers are said, they carry him back to the river with 

 music and dancing, and when he enters the water all the other crocodiles rise up 

 and pay homage to him as their king. 



