pon destroying them all, and that to attempt to
escape by means of flight would only lead to quicker death. Then he told
them what the result of his intercession for them had been.

"The Nat had been persuaded to destroy only one victim on each seventh
evening at dusk, and had appointed him to see that certain conditions
were not broken. He was to have a hut at his disposal, and into this the
men were to go by lot, and thus the Nat would obtain a victim when the
time came round. They were forbidden to wander about after sunset, and
whatever noises were made not to hearken to them, since the Maw-Sayah
would see that the others were unharmed. So long had this dreadful
destruction lasted that more than one-half of the men in the Kachyen
village, or town, as it might well be called from the large number who
inhabited it, had perished, and yet the Nat still demanded a victim, and
the Maw-Sayah is there to see that the compact is fulfilled. The man who
told this story, sahibs, declares that the keeper of the Nat has by this
means obtained sway over the Kachyens to such an extent that they have
become his abject slaves, for the custom of drawing lots has been
abolished, and he selects whom he will to sacrifice to the Nat. By some
means this Kachyen offended the Maw-Sayah, who thereupon condemned him,
but he, in terror of the sudden and silent death in store for him, fled
to Bhamo, where he lives in momentary fear of destruction. Such then,
sahibs, is the story, and it is to see this Maw-Sayah and the Nat at
their fell work to-night that even now our faces are turned to the high
land before us, up which we must climb, for there is but one narrow
pathway leading to the village."

Hassan ceased, and then Denviers turned to me as he said:--

"I think that this Maw-Sayah, as Hassan calls him, has about as much
faith in Nats as we have. It suits his purpose to league himself with
something mysterious; whatever it is we will try to find out," and he
glanced at the weapons which we carried.

II.

"The sahibs must dismount here", said Hassan shortly afterwards, and
following to the ground our guide, we began to climb the mountain path
which stretched before us. The ascent was exceedingly steep, and several
times we stopped to rest after pushing our way through the tangled
masses which almost hid the path, which was itself cut here and there
apparently through the rocky strata. When we had reached about
three-fourths of our journ