IN JAVA. 99 



which the worshippers had plaited a fringe of Areng palm 

 leaves. This same stone is thus decorated at every visit 

 made by the worshippers to the sacred grove. 



At the base of two of the stones, where perhaps they have 

 lain for unknown time, I found an earthenware jar, both of 

 them somewhat broken, but of elegant shape and artistic 

 design, not of ordinary native pattern or workmanship ; but, 

 besides these jars, the egg-shaped stones and the image, all 

 the monuments were of rough stone and without inscription or 

 sign of handicraft. At the base of all the principal mounds 

 and pillars I found remains of their offerings. 



I learnt that the worshippers belonged to the tribe called 

 the Karangs or Kalangs, who lived in a village lying several 

 days' journey to the southward. Four times a year a proces- 



EABTUENWABE POT FROM THE EAKANG's GROVE. 



sion of old men and youths repairs, by paths known only 

 to themselves, through the dense intervening forest in a direct 

 course by valley and mountain, to this sacred grove ; the old 

 men to worship and make offering, the youths to see and 

 learn the mysterious litany of their fathers. ■ The old men lead 

 the way; the rest follow in single file, no one breaking the 

 silence of their journey. Should any one be encountered by 

 them on the way their pilgrimage is considered for that time 

 unpropitious, and they return to their village to wait for a 

 more favourable occasion. On their arrival with early 

 morning at the grove they camp in a small hut, cleanse the 

 ground about the sacred mounds, and perform during the 

 ni^ht or on the following day the rites known to them- 

 selves alone ; in the evening they take their departure to an 



