ISLAND OF BALI 259 



in the island of Bali. There we took a native carriage 

 [sado), and drove a few miles out into the country to 

 see a ver}^ interesting Hindu temple, where there are 

 some remarkable good stone carvings, which shew 

 signs of being carefully tended. The Hindu religion 

 still survives, though it cannot be said to flourish, both 

 in this island and in Lombok. The native villages 

 that we saw have quite characteristic features of their 

 own ; they are surrounded by a high mud wall with 

 a brick coping and are guarded by a swarm of fiercely 

 barking dogs. Inside the wall, if you are bold enough 

 to enter, you find a neatly swept compound, round the 

 sides of which are well-made dwelling-houses, and in 

 the middle are granaries of rice ; both the houses and 

 the granaries are raised on posts several feet above 

 the ground and all are neatly thatched with rice straw. 

 In the corner of the compound is a place set apart for 

 a number of little stone shrines, some of them very 

 elaborately carved, in which votive offerings of flowers 

 and fruit are placed. 



The Balinese seem to be a sturdy and industrious 

 people ; they have a free and independent appearance, 

 very different from that of their somewhat grovelling 

 neighbours, the Javanese. The roads are picturesquely 

 lined with shady trees, and a very pleasant feature of 

 them is the number of little mouse-coloured ponies, 

 which carry panniers on a high-peaked saddle and are 

 the coolies of Bali ; most of them have an elaborate 

 leather harness and many carry a large number of 

 little bells, which make a pretty music along the roads. 

 They appear to be hungry little animals, and they have 



