This brief history of the baliset contained in-one crystal was undoubtedly written at the time o/Muad'Dib. Why Let0 II chose to save it rather than other longer and more detailed descriptions of baliset making is unknown. One possible explanation might be that it was originally written either by Varota himself as a brief papular summary of his life's work, or that it might have been contained in some longer communication possibfy written by Gurney ffaUeck.-E4. The baliset is a portable nine-stringed instrument played by an individual musician, usually a troubador or a member of the nobility. It is not unlike an ancient instrument popular on Old Terra at the beginning of known space travel called the "guitar." Like it, the baliset consists of a resonance chamber, neck, head, strings, and tuning knobs. Like it, the baliset can be slung from the shoulder or around the neck by means of a strap, The embellishments on the baliset strap, however, usually display the player's station and origins rather than simple decoration as was the case with the guitar. Since the time of Ahdn-Hahd, who developed the techniques used to this day. the best balisets have been made entirely of a fibrous resin called stimic. Fifty-seven sheets of the material are treated with heat, an exacting process involving precision timing. The sheets are exposed to one hour of intense sunlight beginning precisely at high noon for one hundred consecutive days. The rays of the sun strike the heart of the stimic at the properly progressing angles, guaranteeing lasting strength and resonance. Varota on Chusuk, famed baliset maker, was known to state that carelessness or a mistake in this process would destroy the tone quality of the instrument, At the end of the prescribed time, indeed precisely at the end of the final hour of exposure to the sun, the treated sheets are placed over the baliset master form, one by one. The covered form is returned to the sunlight where it remains until sundown. Thereafter it is turned hourly, day and night, for forty days. The warming during daylight hours and the coolin