200 



A NATUIIALIST*S WANDf^RINQS 



On inquiring where the dead go, I received the following 

 answer: We Ulu men (lining near the sources of the rivers) 

 do not foHow the cnstom of the sea-coast people. They say 

 that when their people (lie they go to a great fiehl, flat and 

 without aiiy trees, on whicli the hot sun iK>urs day and night. 

 There they have to remain day and night, roasting (jxin^anffX 

 for a long, long time, reading day and night the Koran. After 

 a time Allah comes along with a greiit umbrella over him, 

 attended by a large company. Those that have learned hest 

 he calls to walk with him in the shade of his umbrella; those 



l'.\7.>l iiAH L.\ Mi;-. 



that have failed to J earn all that they ought are beaten up 

 in a great niortiir, and sent back somewhere on earth, whence 

 after a trial they are again transported to the baking field, 

 where a time is allowed to them to perfect themselves, when, 

 if they have made pro^jer use of their op j>ort unities they are 

 at last called under the great shade; but if, after all these 

 trials, they have failed to learn, they are beaten to dust in 

 the mortar and blown away. We Ulu men do not know if 

 this is so or not, and we wonder how they know, for we have 

 never heard of any one who has come back to tell them. We 



