CHAP. XIT.] 



TJKLYG J CENSm 



181 



prettily witli the many twinlvliiig lights. And few went 

 to sleep that night till the morning hours, for every house 

 held a knot of eager talkers, and ninch betel-nut was 

 consumed, and endless were the conjectures what would 

 come of it. 



On the second day they left the last village behind 

 them and entered the wild conntry that surrounds the 

 great mountain, and rested in the huts that had been 

 prepared for thera on the banks of a stream of cold and 

 sparkling water. And the Kajah's hunters, armed with 

 long and heavy gnns, went in search of deer and wild 

 bulls in tlie surrounding woods, and brought home the 

 meat of both in the early morning, and sent it on in 

 advance to prepare the mid-day meal. On the thri-d day 

 they a<ivanced as iar as horses could go, and encamped at 

 the foot of high rocks, among which narnjw pathways only 

 could be found to reach the mountain-top. And on the 

 fourth morning when the Riijah set out, he was accom- 

 panied only by a small party of priests and princes with 

 their immediate att^-ndants ; and they toiled wearily up the 

 rugged way, and sometimes were carried by their servants, 

 tiQ they passed up above the great trees, and then among 

 the thorny bushes, and alwve them again on to the black 

 and burnt rock of the highest part of the mountain. 



And when they were near the summit the Eajah ordered 

 them all to halt, while he alone went to meet the great 

 spirit on the very peak of the mountain. So he went on 

 with two hoys only who carried his sirih and betel, and 

 stjon reached the top of the mountain among great rocks, 

 on the edge of the gi'eat gidf whence issue forth con- 

 tinually smoke and vapom*. And the Rajah asked for 

 sirih, and told the boys to sit do%vn under a rock and look 

 down the mountain, and not to move till he returned to 

 them. And as they were tired, and the sun was warm 

 and pleasant, and the rock sheltered them from the cold 

 wind, the hoys fell asleep. And the Kajah went a little 

 way on under another rock ; and he was tired, and the sim 

 was warm and pleasant, and he too fell a-sleep. 



And those w!io were waiting for tlie liajah thought him 

 a long time on the top of the mountain, and thought the 

 great spirit must have much to say, or might perhaps want 



