HIKAYAT SERI RAMA. 7 
ing ended the steel was white. No ordinary metal was the 
steel, it was what was over after making the bolt of God’s Ka- 
abah. It had been forged by the son of God’s prophet, Adam, 
smelted in the palm of his hand, fashioned with the end of his 
finger, and coloured with the juice of flowers in a Chinese fur- 
nace. Its deadly qualities came down to it from the sky and 
if cleaned with acid at the source of a river, the fish at the 
embouchure came floating up dead.” 
The sword that he wore was called “ the successful swoop- 
ev,’ lit., the kite carrying off its prey. 
The next article deseribed is his turban, which, among the 
Malays, is a square handkerchief folded and knotted round the 
head :— 
“ He next took his royal head-kerchief, knotting it so that 
it stood up with the ends projecting, one of them was called 
déndam ta’ sudah (endless love), it was purposely unfinished, 
if it were finished the end of the world would come. It had 
been woven in no ordinary way, but had been the work of his 
mother from her youth. Wearing it he was provided with all 
the love-compelling secrets.” 
To the Malays, the hero of the story is, of course, a Malay, 
and he naturally wears the national garment—the sarong :— 
“ A robe of muslin of the finest kind; no ordinary weav- 
ing had produeed it, it had been woven in a jar in the middle 
of the ocean by people with gills, relieved by others with beaks; 
no sooner was it finished than the maker was put to death, so 
that no one might be able to make one like it. It was not of 
the fashion of the clothing of the rajas of tue present day, but 
of those of olden time. If it were put in the sun it got damp- 
er, if it were soaked in water it became drier. A slight tear, 
mended by darning, only increased its value, instead of lessening 
it, for the thread for the purpose cost one hundred dollars. A 
_ single dew-drop dropping on it would tangle the thread for a 
cubit’s lengt h, while the breath of the south wind would disen- 
tangle ite ac” 
By tle time that Seri Rama was dressed, it was mid-day, 
“when the shadows are round,” and.it was time to embark. 
R.A. Soc., No. 55, 1909. 
