top of the mountain, and thought the great spirit must have much to say,
or might perhaps want to keep him on the mountain always, or perhaps he
had missed his way in coming down again. And they were debating whether
they should go and search for him, when they saw him coming down with
the two boys. And when he met them he looked very grave, but said
nothing; and then all descended together, and the procession returned
as it had come; and the Rajah went to his palace and the chiefs to
their villages, and the people to their houses, to tell their wives and
children all that had happened, and to wonder yet again what would come
of it.
And three days afterwards the Rajah summoned the priests and the princes
and the chief men of Mataram, to hear what the great spirit had told him
on the top of the mountain. And when they were all assembled, and the
betel and sirih had been handed round, he told them what had happened.
On the top of the mountain he had fallen into a trance, and the great
spirit had appeared to him with a face like burnished gold, and had
said--"Oh Rajah! much plague and sickness and fevers are coming upon all
the earth, upon men and upon horses and upon cattle; but as you and
your people have obeyed me and have come up to my great mountain, I will
teach you how you and all the people of Lombock may escape this plague."
And all waited anxiously, to hear how they were to be saved from so
fearful a calamity. And after a short silence the Rajah spoke again
and told them, that the great spirit had commanded that twelve sacred
krisses should be made, and that to make them every village and every
district must send a bundle of needles--a needle for every head in the
village. And when any grievous disease appeared in any village, one
of the sacred krisses should be sent there; and if every house in
that village had sent the right number of needles, the disease would
immediately cease; but if the number of needles sent had not been exact,
the kris would have no virtue.
So the princes and chiefs sent to all their villages and communicated
the wonderful news; and all made haste to collect the needles with the
greatest accuracy, for they feared that if but one were wanting, the
whole village would suffer. So one by one the head men of the villages
brought in their bundles of needles; those who were near Mataram came
first, and those who were far off came last; and the Rajah received them
with his own hands and put them away carefully in an inner chamber, in a
camphor-wood chest whose hinges and clasps were of silver; and on every
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