plantain-leaf. Thou comest down at half-past seven, to
accept the offerings made to thee.

If the devil _Maha-Sohon_ cause the chin-cough, leanness of the
body, thirst, madness, and mad babblings, he will come down at
half-past seven, and accept the offerings made to him.

These are the marks of the devil _Maha-Sohon_: three marks on the
head, one mark on the eye-brow and on the temple; three marks on the
belly, a shining moon on the thigh, a lighted torch on the head, an
offering and a flower on the breast. The chief god of the
burying-place will say, May you live long!

Make the figure of the _planets_ called the emblem of the _great
burying-place_, as follows: a spear grasped by the right-hand, an
elephant's figure in the left-hand, and in the act of drinking the
blood of the elephant by bruising its proboscis.

Tip the point of the spear in the hand with blood, pointed towards
the elephant's face in the left-hand. These effigies and offerings
take and offer in the burying-place,--discerning well the sickness
by means of the devil-dancer.

Make a figure of the _wolf_ with a large breast, full of hairs on
the body, and with long teeth separated from each other. The effigy
of the _Maha-Sohon_ was made formerly so.

These are the sicknesses which the great devil causes by living
among the tombs: chin-cough, itching of the body, disorders in the
bowels; windy complaints, dropsy, leanness of the body, weakness and
consumptions.

He walks on high upon the lofty stones. He walks on the ground where
three ways meet. Therefore go not in the roads by night: if you do
so, you must not expect to escape with your life.

Make two figures of a goose, one on each side. Make a lion and a dog
to stand at the left-leg, bearing four drinking-cups on four
paws--and make a moon's image, and put it in the burying-place.

Comb the hair, and tie up a large bunch with a black string. Put
round the neck a cobra-capella, and dress him in the garments by
making nine folds round the waist. He stands on a rock eating men's
flesh. The persons that were possessed with devils are put in the
burying-place.

Put a corpse at the feet, taking out the intestines through the
mouth. The principal thing for this country, and for the Singhalese,
is the worship of the planets.[55]

In the centre of