“The Ramadzat (Ramahyana), and other ancient fabulous histories, form the groundwork of nearly all the favourite plays, the outline of the story being merely preserved, while the language of the play depends as much upon the fancy of the performer as the taste of the audience. Each company is presided over by a teacher or manager, who drills the actors in their tasks from rough notes, which contain only the songs and the substance of the parts assigned to each performer. In every play, without perhaps a single exception, the following characters are represented,—a king, a queen, a princess, a minister of state, a huntsman, and some kind of monster.[181] The female characters are usually personated by men, it being considered indecorous in a woman to appear as an actress. I have to plead as an apology for the unpolished style of this translation, the acknowledged difficulty of turning the dialogue of a play into a foreign dress; moreover, the original, which was written from the mouth of an actor, was imperfect and ill written. I believe there are books in the palace at Umeraporee, containing the proper reading of all the approved plays, and the costumes of the characters, which are placed near the members of the royal family whenever they call their companies before them; but I have not been able to discover any work of this description here.”[182] Of the play given by Smith, I shall here offer an epitome:—The nine princesses of the silver mountain, which is separated from the abode of mortals by a triple barrier (the first, a belt of prickly cane; the second, a stream of liquid copper; and the third, a Beloo, or devil), gird on their enchanted zones, which give them the power of flying like birds, and visit a pleasant forest of the earth. While bathing, a huntsman snares the youngest with a magic noose, and carries her to the young prince of Pyentsa, who, on account of her beauty, makes her his chief queen, notwithstanding his recent marriage with the daughter of the head astrologer of the palace. During the princess’s absence, the astrologer takes the opportunity to misinterpret a dream, which the king calls upon him to explain, and declares that the evil spirit, who is exerting himself against the king’s power, is only to be appeased by the sacrifice of the beautiful Manauhurree. The princess’s mother, hearing of this, visits the lovely Manauhurree, and restores to her the enchanted zone, which had been picked up, and given to the old queen, by the huntsman. The princess immediately returns to the silver mountain, but on her way stops at the hermitage of a recluse, who lives on the borders of the forest, and gives him a ring and some drugs, by which the possessor of them can pass unharmed through the dangers of the barrier. The young prince having put an end to the war, returns, and finding his favourite queen gone, he instantly sets off to seek her. Being arrived at the forest, he dismisses his followers, visits the recluse, who gives