THE ET7IXS OF EORO BTJJJUR IN JAVA. 207 



Government, actually took fifty-eight views on glass plates, which 

 were eventually sent to Holland. But it was found that, while the 

 cost of this method would be enormous, the results would be un- 

 satisfactory, and the scheme was abandoned. 



It was under the auspices of M. Rochussen, Governor- General 

 of the Netherlands-India, that the long meditated design of making 

 accurate plans and drawings was at length undertaken. On the 

 16th November, 1847, the Secretary-General wrote to the Dlrecteur 

 du Genie requesting him to instruct one of the draughtsmen of 

 his corps, by way of experiment, to make sketches of some of the 

 bas-reliefs of Boro Budur. The person selected for this duty was 

 M. F. C. Wilsejs 1 ", at that time third draughtsman of Engineers. 

 The choice was evidently a singularly happy one. M. "Wilsex 

 was rather an artist than a draughtsman, and, besides this essential 

 qualification, was an orientalist of no small calibre. M. Sctk;;ni:er& 

 Muloer a young officer of the corps of Engineers, was associated 

 with him in the work, but his share in it w r as a subordinate one 

 and receives less praise from Dr. Leemaists than that of his distin- 

 guished fellow-labourer. Eive years were occupied in making the 

 drawings and plans, which were finished in 1853. 



It was at first proposed that the designs should be lithogra- 

 phed in Java by the department of Engineering under the direction 

 of the Batavian Society, and some plates were executed in this 

 manner. But it was found necessary at last to have the designs sent 

 to Holland to be lithographed there. They were put into the hands 

 of M. Mielixg, of the Hague, in 1856, and the Eoyal Netherlands 

 Institute for promoting the knowledge of the Languages, Countries, 

 and Peoples of India was invited to superintend the work. The 

 Institute accepted the invitation, and as it was desirable that one of 

 the members should be intrusted with the business, Dr. Lee mans, 

 who had made antiquities his special study, was selected, and it was 

 thus that his connection with this important business began. 



Dr. Leemans relates at great length the difficulties he had to 

 encounter, caused chiefly by the mistakes and the dilatoriness of 

 M. Mieltng, the lithographer. His trials in this matter were so 

 great that in 1867 he asked and obtained permission to put the 

 designs which were not yet lithographed into the hands of another 

 publisher, M. E. J. Brill, of Leyden, who successfully completed 



