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 thè
betel and sirih had been handed round, he tcdd 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—“ 0 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, \ 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 la s t;
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 bundle was marked the name of the village
and the district from whence it came, so that it might
be known that all had heard and obeyed the commands
of the great spirit.
And when it was quite certain that every village had
sent in its bundle, the Rajah divided the needles into
twelve equal parts, and ordered the best steel-worker in
Mataram to bring his forge and his bellows and his
hammers to the palace, and to make the twelve krisses