chap, xii.] TAKING A CENSUS. 283 



fourth morning when the Eajah set out, he was accom- 

 panied only by a small party of priests and princes with 

 their immediate attendants; and they toi]ed wearily up the 

 rugged way, and sometimes were carried by their servants, 

 till they passed up above the great trees, and then among 

 the thorny bushes, and above them again on to the black 

 and burnt rock of the highest part of the mountain. 



And when they were near the summit the Eajah ordered 

 them all to halt, while he alone went to meet the great 

 spirit on the very peak of the mountain. So he went on 

 with two boys only who carried his sirih aud betel, and 

 soon reached the top of the mountain among great rocks, 

 on the edge of the great gulf whence issue forth con- 

 tinually smoke and vapour. And the Eajah asked for 

 sirih, and told the boys to sit down under a rock and look 

 down the mountain, and not to move till he returned to 

 them. And as they were tired, and the sun was warm 

 and pleasant, and the rock sheltered them from the cold 

 wind, the boys fell asleep. And the Eajah went a little 

 way on under another rock ; and he was tired, and the sun 

 was warm and pleasant, and he too fell asleep. 



And those who were waiting for the Eajah thought him 

 a long time on the top of the mountain, and thought the 

 great spirit must have much to say, or might perhaps want 

 to keep him on the mountain always, or perhaps he had 

 missed his way in coming down again. And they were 



