in one corner, at the opposite end of the building to that in which the fire-place is built. The building appears to be first constructed with the ordinary roof, but along the front, is an enclosed veranda or gallery of about eight feet broad, with a less inclined piche in the roof, formed of bamboos, which are so placed as to slide out, either for the admission of air, or to afford a channel for the smoke to escape, there being otherwise no aperture, except a small opening, of about a foot square, at one end of the building, above the fireplace, and which is built of brick, and so highly venerated, that it is considered sacrilege for any stranger to pollute it by the touch. Across the upper part of the building, rafters are run across, so as to form a kind of attic story, in which they deposit their valuables and instruments of husbandry.
The head of the village takes the title of Petingi, as in the low lands, and he is generally assisted by a Kabayan; both elected by the people from their own village. There are four priests who are here termed Dukuns, having charge of the sacred records.
These Dukuns, who are in general intelligent men, have no tradition of the time when they were first established on these hills; from what country they came or who intrusted them with the sacred books to the faith contained in which they still adhere. These latter, they state, were handed down to them by their fathers, their office being hereditary, and the sole duty required of them being to perform the puja according thereto, and again to hand them down in safety to their children. They consist of three compositions written on the Lontar-leaf, describing the origin of the world, the attributes of the Deity, and the forms of worship to be observed on different occasions. Copies were taken on the spot; and as the language does not essentially differ from the ordinary Javanese, I hope at an early period to place the Society in possession of translations. In the mean time some notices of their customs, and of the ceremonies performed at births, marriages, and funerals, may be interesting.
When a woman is delivered of her first child, the Dukun takes a leaf of the Alang Alang grass, and scraping the skin of the hands of the child and of the mother with it, as well as the ground, pronounces a short benediction.
When a marriage is agreed upon, the bride and bridegroom being brought before the Dukun within the house, in the first place, bow with respect towards the south—then to the fire-place—then to the earth, and lastly, on looking up to the upper story of the house, where the implements of husbandry are placed, perform the same ceremony. The parties then submissively bowing to the Dukun, he repeats a prayer commencing with the words, "Hong! Gendogo Bromo ang'gas siwong'go nomo s woho sany yang g'ni siro
