120 CEYLON BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



oxen will have that which is tender and newly grown : in place 

 of the leaves and vegetables plucked by the men who go first, 

 fresh and sweet leaves and vegetables will be obtained : where 

 there is no water they will dig* and I shall drink from those 

 wells : the fixing a price for articles is killing work, but I 

 going afterwards shall sell ray goods at the established price. 

 Seeing so many advantages he said, Well, friend, yon 

 may go first. 



The unwise traveller, agreeing to this, made ready his wag* 

 gons and departed. By degrees he came to the entrance of the 

 desert, beyond the inhabited boundary. There are five kinds 

 of deserts, i, the robber desert; 2, the wild-beast desert; 3^ 

 the arid desert ; 4, the demon desert ; and 5, the foodless de- 

 sert. The desert occupied by bands of thieves and robbers is 

 the robber-desert ; that inhabited by lions and wild beasts is* 

 the wild beast desert ; that in which no water is found for 

 bathing or drinking is the arid desert ; that in which demons 

 dwell is the demon desert, that in which neither edible roots- 

 nor food of any kind can be procured is the foodless de- 

 sert. The desert now to be entered was a demon desert des- 

 titute of water. 



The unwise trader, having placed large vessels filled with 

 water upon his waggons, entered the desert, the extent of which, 

 was sixty yoduns (about 800 miles). When he had arrived at 

 the middle of the desert, the demon who resided there thought, 

 I will induce these men to throw away their water, and when 

 they are weak through thirst, I will destroy and eat them all. 

 He accordingly formed the appearance of a beautiful carriage 

 drawn by two milk-white oxen, preceded and followed by a 

 retinue of ten or twelve demons, as men, armed with bows and 

 shields. The chief demon was seated in the carriage, as a man 

 of rank, adorned with lotos flowers; his head and clothes wet 

 with water, and the wheels of his carriage dripping with mud. 

 The attendants who preceded and followed him kad their heads 



