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 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
steelworker in Mataram to bring his forge and his bellows and his hammers to
the palace, and to make the twelve krisses under the Rajah's eye, and in the sight
of all men who chose to see it. And when they were finished, they were wrapped
up in new silk and put away carefully until they might be wanted.
Now the journey to the mountain was in the time of the east wind when no