CURIOUS NATIVE BELIEF. 227
Macintosh, and certainly much warmer. The rain, which only drizzled when we left the Passan^rahan, poured down in torrents soon after we lost sight of the gap leading to the Dieng. Vivid flashes of lightning followed each other in quick succession, and when the thunder rolled, the mountains, which hemmed us in on either side, re- verberated its sound, each time ai)j)arently louder and nearer than the last. No one seemed to be in a talkative humour as we descended, the grandeur of the scene having awed us into silence.
It began to clear up just before we reached the vilhige at which we st()p[)e(l on ascending ; and tin- AVodiHio seemed more lively and anxious to con- verse. He t(jld me a cuiMCius native belief, which, h(.' said, was menti(jned in their Koralum, or holy book namely, that the Island of Java, from its vol- canic natni\', would betlu- first ])lace in the world to ignite at the last dav ; but that the native's were to be ke]it in a safe ])laee until the conflagration was
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