138 ANCIENT TOMBS. 



nests, with an egg and a young bird, which one of 

 the attendants detached from an upper part of one 

 of the caverns. In shape it was just like the nest 

 of our house-marten, but much smaller externally, 

 and thinner. It looked exactly as if made of a 

 fibrous semi-transparent isinglass of a slightly yel- 

 lowish colour. 



From Sutje we returned along the hills to near 

 Gresik, when we turned up to the right to visit 

 some ancient tombs. On the summit of the low 

 hills, in a commanding and pleasant situation, we 

 found some old remains and foundations of temples or 

 other buildings, in stone and brick, and some more 

 modern but still ancient erections of wood. In one 

 of these, which was most elaborately and beautifully 

 ornamented with carved work, both inside and out, 

 representing leaves and flowers, and various patterns 

 of tracery, was a stone tomb or sarcophagus, on 

 which, in a kind of shrine or alcove of white muslin 

 hangings and curtains, was a box containing a sacred 

 kriss. This was the tomb and prisaka, or heir-loom 

 kriss of Sunan Giri, one of the first Mahomedan 

 princes of the country, who died in the Javan year 

 1400 (a. d. 1475), at the time of the destruction of 

 Majopahit, the last Hindoo kingdom of the island.* 



* See Sir S. Raffles' s History of Java, vol. 2, p. 131, etc. 

 Susuhunan, Susunan, or Sunan, means " apostle/' and was the 

 title assumed by the first Mahomedan kings and princes of Java. 

 Susunan was translated by the Dutch and English into Emperor, 

 and was the title given to the principal native prince who ruled at 



