4. -HIKAYAT SERI RAMA. 
way. The signal which the Raja gives for the assembling of 
the people is another instance; — he sounded the great forbidden 
drum, struck the gong of assembly, the chanang of summons.” 
Everyone answered the summons—the Téménggong, the 
Laksamana, the Orang Kaya Bésar, the Férdana Mantri, the 
warriors, the army, and the people, great and small, old and 
young, male and female, high and low— ae 
“Those with young children came with their babies on 
their backs, the lame came leaning on their sticks, the blind 
came led by the hand, the deaf came enquiring on all sides, 
and the diseased came keeping their distance from the others.” 
The Orang Kaya Téménggong, one of the chief ministers 
of the State, then addressed the Raja asking what danger or 
accident had caused this summons :— 
* What fort has fallen down, what moat is choked up, 
what palisade has given way, what building is leaning over, 
what pillar is broken, what roof leaky, what wall ruinous, what 
flooring out of repair? Or has an army arrived from any- 
where ?”’ . 
Then Séri Rama related his disquietude at the want of an 
heir, and described how he had suddenly conceived the idea of 
sending for his elder brother Raja Laksamana, who lived far 
inland, in order that his advice might be asked. The Té- 
ménggong was at once despatched to call the latter. 
Raja Laksamana proceeded to the court with the Téméng- 
gong, and Séri Rama then explained that he had sent for his 
elder brother in the hope that he might be the depositor of 
some of the secrets handed down from ancient times, by means 
- of which he might divine what was to happen in the future, 
and if an heir was yet to be born to him. This is an 
allusion to the art of divination still practised by Malay sorcer- 
ers and devil-dancers, the impiety of whose performances, from 
a Muhammadan point of view, is excused by immemorial usage. 
The proceedings of Raja Laksamana, described further on, are 
exactly those of a Malay pawang at the present day. 
The great hall of the palace was at once got ready in ac- 
cordance with Raja Laksamana’s directions, and the imple- 
Jour. Straits Branch 
