"For several days he appeared to be very sick at heart; and finally he called his officers together, and told them he had been summoned to go to the top of the great fire-mountain to hear a revelation from the spirit who ruled the island. The spirit had come to him in a vision, and said he must go there at once, or the island would be destroyed.
WHERE THE GREAT SPIRIT AND THE RAJAH MET.
"Of course they made arrangements immediately, and a grand procession accompanied the Rajah to the designated spot. From the foot of the mountain to the summit he was escorted by a few priests and attendants; and as he neared the crater he ordered them to remain behind, under the shadow of a great rock, while he went alone to meet the spirit. He remained away for a long time; the fact is, he lay down and took a comfortable nap, and it was naturally thought that the spirit had a great deal to say to him.
"When he returned he was silent and sorrowful, and did not speak a word for three days. Then he summoned his officers, and told them what the spirit had said. He described the spirit as having a face of burnished gold, and a voice that sounded like distant thunder.
"'Oh, Rajah!' the spirit said, 'much plague, and sickness, and fever are coming on the earth—on men, and horses, and cattle; but as you and your people have obeyed me and come to the mountain, and have been good and faithful, I will tell you how you can avoid the pestilence.
"'You must make twelve sacred krisses; and 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 disease appears in a village, one of the krisses shall be sent there; if every house in that village has sent the right number of needles, the disease shall cease immediately; but if the number of needles has not been exact, then all shall die!'
"So the princes and chiefs made haste to collect the needles; and they were very exact about it, for they feared that, if a single needle should be wanting in any case, the whole village would perish. When the needles were collected, the Rajah received them; then he had a workman come and make twelve krisses from those needles; but the papers that were around the needles, and told the name of each village, and the number of men, women, and children in it, he carefully preserved, and put away in his private chest.