SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES. 73 



&c., it would be foreign to our purpose to give any 

 analysis. Many of these excel the monuments of 

 Egypt in the elegance of their sculpture, the number 

 of their images, and the beauty of their architecture. 

 Whole plains are found covered by scattered ruins, 

 and large fragments of hewn stone; and in one 

 place were traced the sites of nearly four hundred 

 temples, having broad and extensive streets or roads 

 running between them at right angles. It was not 

 until very recently that the antiquities of Java ex- 

 cited much notice. " The narrow policy of the 

 Dutch (Sir Stamford observes) denied to other 

 nations facilities of research ; and their devotion to 

 the pursuits of commerce, was too exclusive to 

 allow of their being much interested by the subject. 

 The numerous remains of former art and grandeur, 

 which exist in the ruins of temples and other edi- 

 fices ; the abundant treasures of sculpture and sta- 

 tuary with which some parts of the island are 

 covered; and the evidences of a former state of 

 religious belief and national improvement, which 

 are presented in images, devices, and inscriptions, 

 either lay entirely buried under rubbish, or were 

 but partially examined. In addition to their claims 

 on the consideration of the antiquarian, two of these 

 ruins, Brambanan and Boro Bodo, are admirable as 

 majestic works of art. The great extent of the 

 masses of building, covered in some parts with the 

 luxuriant vegetation of the climate, the beauty and 

 delicate execution of the separate portions, the 



