m 



IN THE MUSEUM OF THE SOCIETY. 391 



inexperienced hand. The inscription round the head of 

 Buda is not so much obliterated as the others are. Ac- 

 cording to the translation which a learned orientalist was so 

 obliging as to give me, it relates to the " Author of Creation 

 having contemplated for 1000 years, by reason of the existence 

 of irreligion." 



An ornamental border of a particular kind of foliage sur- 

 rounds the upright figure of Suria, and a similar border sur- 

 rounds the head of Buda. This kind of foliage is also seen 

 in the small brass Javanese images of Buda. 



All the figures have the lobes of the ears very long and 

 hanging down. 



The seated figure of Suria and the figure of Buda have a 

 round mark on the forehead, between the eye-brows, like the 

 mark which the Hindus paint between the eye-brows, to de- 

 note the cast. The erect figure of Suria has an oblong mark 

 on the forehead. 



The stone of which all the figures are carved, is a talcaceous 

 stone, called by mineralogists Talcaceous Schistus, but of a dif- 

 ferent grain in each figure. The stone of which the seated 

 figure of Suria is sculptured is of the finest grain. The others 

 are more schistose and granular. It is uncertain in what 

 part of India or of the eastern islands these figures were made. 

 Talcaceous schistus, similar to that of which they are formed, 

 occurs in different parts of the world ; it is quarried at St Ca- 

 therine's near Inverary, and in other parts of the Highlands of 

 Scotland and Ireland. It is a magnesian stone, and is easily 

 cut by the chissel and file, so as to exhibit any figure that 

 the ability or genius of the sculptor can command. Crosses, 

 and arabesque ornaments on tombs, at Icolmkill and Loch 

 Awe, are carved out of talcaceous schistus ; it is one of those 



vol. ix. p. ii. 3 d kinds 



