98 SRI RAMA. 



audience), the popping of the latter being compared to roasting 

 paddy when the grain flies out of the husk with a slight, report 

 (be-derap bedil gang kechll b%gei pentika bertih gang amat balk 

 jad'i). The swiftness of the boats is most graphically des- 

 cribed :— 



Bagei puchuk di-lanchar-kan 



Bagei belut di-getil ekor 



Bagei kumbang putus tali 



Lalat hinggap ter-gelinchir 



Burong terbang dapat di-tangkap 



Angin lalu dapat di-lampar 



Di-lempar ka-hadap jatoh ka-belakang.* 

 After seven days and seven nights spent in amusement at sea, 

 the Princess proposed to her husband to land and see the place 

 described by Raja Laksamana, where the river flowed down 

 to the sea from a green lake on the mountain. Orders were 

 given accordingly, and next morning the immense assemblage 

 landed " when the sun was already high, filling the plain with 

 its heat, about the period called talih tenggala.'Y' Leaving the 

 older men to look after the boats, the royal couple, attended by 

 their Chiefs and subjects, climbed the hill, a path being cut for 

 them through the forest. About the period of mid-day prayer 

 (dhohor) , they reached the top, and found a lake exactly as 

 described by Raja Laksamana. The Princess was at once 

 seized with a violent longing to bathe in its waters and, with- 

 out saying a word to her husband, she plunged in ; she was 

 immediately turned into a monkey and sprang chattering up 

 one of the two large tualang trees which grew on the banks. On 

 seeing this, Sri Rama followed her example, jumped into 

 the lake, and a moment afterwards joined his consort in the 



° " It was like a palm-shoot hurled as a spear, like an eel darting 

 away when caught by the tail, like a cockchafer escaping when 

 its string is broken. The fly which settled (on one of the boats) 

 found it slip from under him, the bird on the wing was overtaken 

 and caught, the wind blowing in the same direction was passed by, 

 an article thrown ahead from the bow fell into the water astern." 



f Tulih tenggala, the time when the ploughman looks round at 

 the sun, feeling the morning rays striking on his back. 



