206 THE EUINS OF BOEO BTJDUE IN JAVA. 



about six hundred and twenty feet either way. The exterior 

 line of the ground plan, though apparently a perfect square 

 when viewed at a distance, is not exactly of that form, as 

 the centre of each face, to a considerable extent, projects many 

 feet, and so as to cover as much ground as the conical shape 

 of the hill will admit : the same form is observed in each of the 

 terraces. The whole has the appearance of one solid building, and 

 is about a hundred feet high, independently of the central spire of 

 about twenty feet which has fallen in. The interior consists al- 

 most entirely of the hill itself." 



The more careful examination of the building, which has been 

 made since Sir Stamfoed Raffles wrote this, shews that his des- 

 cription is not absolutely correct in all points, but it is sufficiently 

 so to give a good idea of the whole. 



It was, as we have seen, part of Baffles' original purpose to 

 cause plans and drawings of the building to be made, and he says 

 in a note to the passage just quoted: — " Drawings of the present 

 and former state of this edifice and illustrative of the sculptural 

 ornaments by which it is distinguished have been made and have 

 been long in the hands of the engraver." 



But not many of these seem to have appeared. Dr. Leemans 

 suggests that possibly they may have remained amongst papers 

 that Sir Stamfoed left behind him at his death. A few were 

 printed, and reproduced in various publications ; Possibly the 

 frontispiece to the second volume of Ceawfued's "History of the 

 Indian Archipelago " comes from this source. Afterwards, from 

 time to time, drawings of various parts of the building and of 

 objects in the building appeared. But after Sir Stamfoed Eaffles 

 left Java in 1815, until the year 1844, no serious attempt was made 

 to produce a complete series of drawings. 



There had, meanwhile, been many proposals, some of them 

 countenanced by the JS"etherlands-India Government, to have Boro 

 Budur thoroughly measured, described and illustrated. But the 

 difficulties in the way of accomplishing the task seemed again and 

 again insurmountable. 



At last, in 1844 the idea was entertained of making use of 

 photography to obtain correct views of the building, and in July, 

 1845, a German artist named Shaefee, who was employed by the 



