there are said to be paddy-fields), Pulau Kasin (a distant islet to the North is called Pulau Kwch), and Tanjong Gamarau. Here there is a bay where there are said to be hot springs; the island in the bay is called Pulau Bělibis.
Passing Tanjong Gamarau, with Gunong Raya in the dis- tance bearing nearly due South, and an island called Pulau Tanjong Dundang right ahead, we came to an anchor nearly opposite our destination—Goa Cherita. The coast scenery about here is very fine, an endless series of fantastic peaks furnishing perpetual variety.
Goa Cherita is traditionally reputed to be the cave in which, according to the early history of Kedah, the shipwrecked Prince of Rúm was hidden and tended by his future wife—the daughter of the Emperor of China. The story may be read in thechronicles of Kedah, called Marong Mahawangsa, an inferior English translation of which (by Colonel Low) is to be found in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago, Vol. III. The legend is briefly as follows:—
The island of Langkapuri, after the war between RAMA and RAWANA, celebrated in the Rámáyana, was little frequented, and in later ages became the home of the bird Garuda (pronounced by Malays Gerda)—the eagle of Vishnu. Gerda learnt that a marriage was projected between the son of the Emperor of Rúm and the daughter of the Emperor of China, and, in order to prevent the aggrandisement of the former empire, thought it desirable to prevent the match. So he presented himself. before God's prophet SULEIMAN, who then ruled the world and all created things, not only mankind, but all spirits (jin, peri, dewa and mambang), and all animals on the face of the earth. He represented the necessity of preventing the young couple from mecting, but King SOLOMON declared that no power on earth could prevent it. On this, Gerda announced that he could and would prevent it, and vowed that, if unsuccessful, he would for ever abandon the haunts of men. The prophet bade him do his worst and come back and relate the story of his success when it should have been accomplished.
Gerda then successfully swooped down upon the garden of the Emperor of China, and carried off in his talons the princess and two female attendants, whom he set down in safety on
