200 



A NATURALIST'S WANDERINGS 



On inquiring where the dead go, I received the following 

 answer : " We Ulu men (living near the sources of the rivers) 

 do not follow the custom of the sea-coast people. They say 

 that when their people die they go to a great field, flat and 

 without any trees, on which the hot sun pours day and night. 

 There they have to remain day and night, roasting {pangang), 

 for a long, long time, reading day and night the Koran. Aiter 

 a time Allah comes alontr with a trreat umbrella over him, 

 attended by a large company. Those that have learned best 

 he calls to walk with him in the shade of his umbrella; those 



MONOLITH AT TAN6EE\VANG[ ; PASSUMAH LANDS. 



that have failed to learn all that they ought are beaten up 

 in a great mortar, and sent back somewhere on earth, whence 

 after a trial they are again transported to the baking iield, 

 where a time is allowed to them to perfect themselves, when, 

 if they have made proper use of their opportunities they are 

 at last called under the great shade ; but if, after all these 

 trials, they have failed to learn, they are beaten to dust in 

 the mortar and blown away. We Ulu men do not know if 

 this is so or not, and we wonder how they know, for we have 

 never heard of any one \Aho has come back to tell them. We 



