at Angkor are attended with only partial success. It is certain that no similar attempts were made in the time of the Brahmans, since Hindus are averse from the avoidable destruction of animal life; wherefore it may be surmised that the bats inhabited the buildings in vast numbers even before they were abandoned.
Note 8. (Pages 237 and 238.)
THE HERESY OF THE SNAKE
The existence of this belief among the Khmer people is an historical fact. The following mention of it is made in the account of Angkor, written by the Chinese ambassador, to whom reference has been made in Note 6:—
"Several natives of distinguished rank have told me that formerly there used to be a fairy in that tower in the form of a dragon with nine heads, who was the protectress of the kingdom; that under the reign of each king of the country the fairy assumed every night the form of a woman, and sought the king in the tower; and even though he were married, the queen, his wife, dared not intrude before a certain hour; but, at a signal of two strokes, the fairy vanished, and the king was then able to receive his queen and his other wives; if the fairy allowed a single night to pass without appearing, it was a sign that the death of the king was near at hand; if, on his side, the king failed to meet her, it was certain that a fire or some other calamity would occur."
It is probable that the Chinese envoy was mistaken as to the number of the dragons' heads. They should be seven, not nine.
