24 Ancient Javanese 'Remains. [No. 1, 



being square instead of round that is a trifle ! The plate on the 

 table before you will show you that the Tibetan Buddhists do repre- 

 sent mount Meru and its seven ridges as square.* 



The highest of the volcanic mountains of Java, rising to 12,234 

 feet above the sea bears the name of Mei*u (Sumeru), as the local 

 representative of the apex of the mythical world. 



Above the crowning dome the Dutch authorities have ereeted seats 

 with a small roof to shade visitors, very welcome and useful, however 

 incongruous. We were unfortunate in weather, but the view from 

 the summit must in a clear atmosphere be quite unique. Casting 

 your eyes beyond the grey and shattered domes which hold in durance 

 the eternally meditative Buddhas at your feet, you overlook the 

 whole valley of Kadii with its gentle slopes and terraces. Line be- 

 hind line, in infinite perspective, lie the dense groves of cocoa-nut 

 and fruit trees which alone indicate the sites of Javanese villages, 

 the intervals being filled up by a garden-like tillage of rice, sugar, 

 indigo, and a vast variety of other crops. Close behind rise the 

 fantastic peaks and cliffs of the calcareous mountains of Menoreh 

 whilst the panorama in front is framed in by the huge peaks of 

 Sumbing and Sindoro, Mir-Babu and Mir-Api, respectively 11,021, 

 10,321, 10,227 and 9,208 English feet in height above the sea. 



I will dwell no longer on Boro Bodor, but pass to Brambanan, to 

 which I was unfortunately only able to give a part of a day. It lies 

 close on the borders of the two states of Djokjokarta and Solo, about 

 ten miles from the former capital and immediately south of the 

 noble cone of Mir-Api. The remains here are very numerous and 

 interesting, but I will notice only a few points. 



The first piece of antiquity that attracts the eye in travelling from 

 Djokjo is a temple in a field close by the road, called by the people 

 " Chandi Kali Baneng ;"f Chandi being an Indian word which is 

 still applied to all such Hindu remains in Java. This was a beauti- 

 ful building, and exceedingly interesting to me from its strong re- 

 semblance, both in plan and in the details of ornament, to some of 

 the Burmese temples at Pagan. £ Like many of these, it was a square 



* See Musei Borgiani Cosmogonia Indico-Thibetana See.. Romae 



MDOCXCIII. p. 231. No. 1466 in As. Soc. Library, 

 t See Fig. 6. 

 X See particularly in Mission to Ava the temple of Senpbyokoo. PL 



