Hamilton’s account of the east indies. 427

of building a new baw, and dedicates it to the god he adores; and fome prieffs, whofetemples are gone to decay, bring their images to adorn it, who have the benefice fortheir pains.

I have feen fome of thofe rockets fo large, that one of them could contain about fivehundred weight of powder-dufl and coal, which is their common compofition. Thecarcafe is the trunk of a great tree made hollow, leaving about two inches of folid woodwithout the cylinder, to Hrengthen it; the hollow they fill with the compofition wellrammed in, and after that is done, they make thongs of green buffaloes’ hides, and haultight round the carcafe to keep it from fplitting, and thofe thongs are put from oneend to the other, in the place of hoops, and when they grow dry, they are as clofe onthe carcafe as fo many hoops ; then they fecure the ends, that the compofition maycome gradually out, when fired. The carcafe they place on a branch of a large hightree, which grows plentifully in their fields, and fix it in the pofition they would have itmount in when fired, and then they take a large bamboo for a tail to balance it. SomeI have feen above 120 feet long. When the tail is made fall according to art, then theday of folemnity is proclaimed, and great numbers of people of all ranks, degrees andages, affemble to fee the rocket fly. When all are convened, the lalhings that faffenedit to the tree, are cut, except fo many as can fupport it from falling, and there are menwith hatchets ready to cut them when the fire is put to it, which is done by the owner,and then the rocket takes flight, and fome fly a prodigious height, others come to theground, and fly five or fix hundred paces in an irregular motion, wounding or fcorchingall that comes in its way. The confequences of the high flier and the low, I havedefcribed at length above.

A little while after the rockets flying they have another feaff, called the collock, and‘fome women are chofen out of the people affembled, to dance a dance to the gods ofthe earth. Hermaphrodites, who are numerous in this country, are generally chofen,if there are enough prefent to make a fet for the dance. I faw nine dance like madfolks, for above half an hour, and then fome of them fell in fits, foaming at the mouthfor the fpace of half an hour; and, when their fenfes are reftored, they pretend toforetel plenty or fcarcity of com for that year, if the year will prove fickly or falutaryto the people, and feveral other things of moment, and all by that half hour’s conver-fation that the furious dancer had with the gods while fhe was in a trance.

They have various forts of mufic, but the pipe and tabor are efteemed the beff,though their ftringed inffruments pleafed my ears befl. They have one fort in the fhapeof a galley, with about twenty bells of feveral fizes and founds, placed fall on theupper part, as it lies along. The inffrument is about three feet long, and eight or teninches broad, and fix inches deep. They beat thofe bells with a Hick made of heavywood, and they make no bad mufic.

There are two large temples near Syrian , fo like one another in flru&ure, that theyfeem to be built by one model. One Hands about fix miles to the fouthward, calledKiakiack, or, the God of Gods’ Temple.. In if is an image of twenty yards long, lyingin a fleeping pofture, and, by their tradition, has lain in that pofture 6000 years. Hisdoors and windows are always open, and every one has the liberty to fee him ; andWhen he awakes, this world is to be annihilated. The temple Hands on an high cham-paign ground, and may eafily be feen, in a clear day, eight leagues off. The otherHands in a low plain, north of Syrian , about the fame diffance, called Dagun. Hisdoors and windows are always Hiut, and none enters his temple but his prieffs, andthey will not tell what lhape he is of, only he is not of human fhape. As foon as Kia-kiack diffolves the being and frame of the world, Dagon or Dagun will gather up the

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