Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/298

 254 RELIGION OF BALI, account of the ceremony alluded to in the text, as received by Cavendish and his companions from the Portuguese :- — " The custome of the countrey is, that whensoeuer the king doth die, they take the body so dead, and burne it, and preserue the ashes of him, and within fiue dayes next after, the wiues of the said king so dead, according to the custome and vse of their countrey, euery one of them goe together to a place appointed, and the chiefe of the women, which was nearest vnto him in accompt, hath a ball in her hand, and throweth it from her, and to the place where the ball rest- eth, thither they goe all, and turn their faces to the eastward, and euery one, with a dagger in their hand, (which dagger they call a crise, and is as sharpe jfis a razor,) stab themselues to the heart, and with their hands all to bebathe themselves in their owne blood, and falling grouelling on their faces, so ende their dayes. This thing is as true, as it seemeth to any hearer to be strange/' * The testimony of Pigafetta confirms the existence of the practice in Java. ** On nous dit que c'est I'usagc k Java de bmler les corps des principaux qui meurent ; et que la femme qu'il aimoit le plus est distinee a etre brftiees toute vivante dans le raeme feu. Ornee de guirlandes de fleurs, elle se fait portej'^^ar quatre hommes sur un siege par toute la ville, et d'un air riant et tranquilie elle console ses parens qui pleurent sa mort prochaine en leur distant ; * Je vais ce soir souper avee
 * Piirchas*s Pilgrims, Vol. I. B. 2. p. 6S.