260 RAJA DONAN. 



lingly one step at a time. The RAJA BANDAHARA went off 

 in disgust as soon as be saw the state of his body, and the 

 Semang was about to descend again when the Princess per- 

 ceived the flute stuck in his girdle, and expressed a desire to 

 hear it. The Raja Bandahara then came out and question- 

 ed the Semang, who said that the flute was merely a country 

 instrument used by the Semang tribe, and made by his father, 

 who had given one to each of his children. On being told to 

 play it, the Semang said that he was afraid to play it in a town, 

 for fear that those who heard it might be afflicted with ver- 

 tigo or madness and then he would be put to death. The 

 RAJA BANDAHARA swore that no harm should happen to him, 

 even if evil consequences should be caused to the Princess 

 herself bv the sound of the flute. The Semang then consent- 

 ed to play, but first invoked the Dewatas to accomplish the 

 end he had in view. At the first tune, when the flute gave 

 forth the sounds of twelve instruments, the Princess gave a 

 scream ; at the next she fell down on the floor ; and at the 

 third, when the effect was that of thirty-six instruments play- 

 ing together, she became unconscious and lay to all appear- 

 ance like one dead. Then there was a terrible commotion, 

 in the middle of which the Semang jumped down and disap- 

 peared. 



Then the religious men assembled and made preparations 

 for the burial of the Princess, whom all believed to be dead, 

 but the Raja Bandahara would not suffer this, and merely 

 had the body placed in a coffin and deposited in the hall of the 

 palace, saying that he would wait until he could get another 

 interview with the Semang. Raja PlAKAS, on hearing that 

 the Princess to whom he was betrothed was dead, was about 

 to run amuck (amok), but the RAJA BANDAHARA had him 

 seized and imprisoned pending the discovery of the Semang, 

 in search of whom he at once despatched messengers. 



Search was orgarised by the Chiefs on a large scale, but 

 for a long time was unsuccessful, and the search-party were 

 on the point of returning home when, as they were passing 

 through the fields, they saw the object of their search engaged 

 in the Semang-like occupation of catching grasshoppers and 

 eating them. They surrounded him and were on the point of 



