2N JAVA. 97 



of cross-fertilisation in orchids has been in danger of being 

 unduly magnified, from the absence of evidence on the other 

 side. 



The estate of Kosala derives its name from the rounded hill 

 above the house. The word is of Sanscrit origin, but its 

 meaning is unknown. It is a country along the bank of the 

 Sarayu, forming a part of the modern province of Oude. It 

 was the pristine kingdom of a solar race, and in the time of 

 Buddha its principal city was Sewet (Sravasti). There is 

 another Kosala in the Deccan (Dakshina Kosala) ; so Kosala 

 or Kusala is the name of a land or a race. Ala occurs as a 

 termination in many names of countries, but the root Kosli or 

 Kush has such an immense variety of significations that it is 

 impossible to find a good translation for it. 



The city of Sewet in Kosala was visited in a.d. 401 by 

 the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Fah-hian, and where he saw 

 the famous sandal-wood figure made by order of the king of 

 Kosala. He found at some distance from the city a copse 

 called Aptanetravana ("recovered sight"), where originally 

 five hundred blind men lived who were restored to sight by 

 Buddha. The blind men threw their staves on the ground, 

 which forthwith grew up into trees and formed a sacred 

 grove or copse. The name has most probably come down 

 from Hindoo times to the present associated with some 

 sacred legend whose influence ' hovers still over the spot ; 

 for when the coffee gardens were being made the natives 

 refused to fell the forest that grew on the Kosala hill, 

 and only under compulsion could they then be persuaded to 

 enter it. 



Under its shade there stand several mounds, blocks, and slabs 

 which Mr. Lash conducted me one day to see. On entering 

 the forest we were somewhat surprised to find a portion of the 

 ground newly cleared of underwood from about several of the 

 stones, and against them standing the remnants of small 

 torches of sweet gums which had been offered before them. I 

 felt certain that this was the work of none of the surrounding 

 people who were afraid to enter the copse. 



I decided therefore to make a full survey of the buried 

 ruins, and after some difficulty I succeeded in securing, for a 

 consideration, the services of a youth who was willing to 



