a 



EDIBLE SWALLOW". 635 



child's appeal was useless. These strange Dyaks had hearts of 

 stone ; not a morsel was handed to the fatigued and hungry little 

 wayfarer ; so he wept on, and wept in vain. 



"After a while the boy looked more cheerful ; he had dried his 

 tears, and was now engaged in catching, a dog and a cat. These 

 he put together on the mat, round which all the people were seat- 

 ed. The cat and the dog played, or more likely, as these animals 

 will do, fought together ; but, whatever it was, there was some- 

 thing so ludicrous in it all, while the boy sat over them and set 

 them at each other, that the whole assemblage burst into immod- 

 erate laughter. The boy, it would seem, was working some spell 

 — there was an object in what he had been doing. Perhaps he 

 was in communication with evil spirits, or under their influence ; 

 there was something ominous about it, we know not what. But 

 to proceed: presently the sky became overcast, and gradually 

 great volumes of black clouds came sailing up, propelled by sud- 

 den gusts of wind. One by one they rolled along, and were 

 heaped up one on top of another, or got all broken up, as it were, 

 in their collision. The sky appeared one mass of confusion, look- 

 ing blacker and more angry as the sun gradually disappeared in 

 the darkness. At last the storm burst forth with a fury never 

 known before ; sharp fl'ashes of lightning, followed by awful peals 

 of thunder, succeeded one another, fast and furious ; the very 

 ground below shook as the palm-leaf quivered in the breeze : it 

 seemed as if the great end of all things was at hand. 



"Now commenced a gradual but awful change. Amid the 

 rolling thunder and the dazzling lightning, which only served to 

 make the awful darkness visible, the village, the houses, all be- 

 gan to dissolve, to melt away, as it were, into burning lava, and, 

 with his works, man perishing likewise. There you might see 

 the gray-headed chief starting up, with his grandson in his arms, 

 but, ere reaching the door, being gradually hardened into stone. 

 There mothers would be seen flying with their little ones, to es- 

 cape the same dreadful fate, but all in vain. There a young and 

 helpless maiden would be clinging to her brave warrior, to that 

 arm which had always been the first to help her, which could 

 surely save her now. Alas! that cruel transformation! The 

 living light in those bright eyes is gone, the tender grasp of that 

 warm hand is cold ; from flesh and blood they too pass away into 

 senseless petrifactions ; while, mingling with the shrieks, and yells, 

 and invocations of the men and the Borich, would still be heard 



