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140 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



representation of the human form. 'By these means,' said the Su- 

 sunan, with much ingenuity, ' while the world in general will not 

 imagine the figures to be human, the Javas, from recollecting their 

 history, will yet be able to comprehend the characters they are in- 

 tended to represent, and enjoy in secret their national amusements. 

 Or if, in time, they should forget the originals, and confound them 

 with the distorted resemblance, they will be impressed with the idea, 

 that it was only after conversion to the faith of the Prophet that 

 their ancestors assumed the present shape of man.' But the compara- 

 tively recent alteration in the figures is rendered doubtful from the 

 circumstance of similar figures being found on many of the more an- 

 cient coins, thus affording ground for an opinion, that they existed 

 nearly in their present form before the introduction of Mahometanism. 

 Their antiquity is further confirmed by the existence of similar figures 

 in the Hindu island of Bali, where, though not so much distorted, they 

 are still far from natural." — Raffles' "Java," vol. i., pp. 336, 337. 



Visiting the rich Museum of East Indian objects at the Hague, in 

 Sept., 1868, I was careful to inquire for examples of these curious Java- 

 nese figures, and saw a considerable number of them. The features in 

 all were unnaturally prominent, but by no means so much so as in the 

 drawing of Baffles. 



