1(38 
OF THE RELIGION OF SASSAK, 
He afterwards powdered it witli flour of coloured rice and chopped 
flowers, and placed it on dry mats. 
Women brought out the wife of the gusti with her arms crossed. 
She was clothed with a piece of white linen only. Her- hair was 
crowned with flowers of the Chrysanthemum Indicum. She was quiet, 
and betrayed neither fear nor regret. She placed herself standing 
before the body of her husband, raised her arms on high, and made 
a prayer in silence. Women approached her and presented to her 
small bouquets of kembang spatu, and other flowers. She took 
them one by one and placed them between the fingers of her hands 
raised above her head. On this the women took them away and 
dried them. On receiving and giving back each bouquet the wife of 
the gusti turned a little to the right, so that when she had received 
the whole she had turned quite round. She prayed anew in si¬ 
lence, went to the corpse of her husband, kissed it on the head, the 
breast, below the navel, the knees, the feet, and returned to her 
place. They took off her rings. She crossed her arms on her 
breast. Two women took her by the arms. Her brother (this time 
a brother by adoption) placed himself before her, and asked her with 
a soft voice if she was determined to die, and when she gave a sign 
of assent with her head, he asked her forgiveness for being obliged 
to kill her. At once he seized his kris and stabbed her on the left 
side of the breast, but not deeply, so that she remained standing. 
He then threw his kris down and ran off. A man of consideration 
approached her, and buried his kris to the hilt in the breast of the 
unfortunate woman, who sunk down at once without emitting a cry. 
The women placed her on a mat, and sought, by rolling and pres¬ 
sure, to cause the blood to flow as quickly as possible. The vic¬ 
tim being not yet dead, she w^as stabbed again with a kris between 
the shoulders. They then laid her on the second platform near her 
husband. The same ceremonies that had taken place for him now 
began for the wife. When all was ended, both bodies were covered 
with lesin and cosmetic stuffs, enveloped in white linen, and placed 
in the small side house on the platforms. There they remain until 
the time is come when they are burned together. 
