138 HINDU RELIGION 



The Br^hmans even went theleno[thofa(reriingtkat they paid adoration 

 to no idol whatever, a fmgular circumflance certainly if true. My 

 ©wnwantof faOicient experience will not allow me to decide upon 

 the accuracy of this ftatement. i rani>, ho.?ever obfcrve, that I was 

 a (yood deal furprifed not to meet on that part of Eali, which we vilited, 

 any images of Hindu worfhip, fuih as I had been accudomed to fee in 

 great numbers on Java. I bave reafon to believe, notwithftanding the 

 ilrong affertions of the Brahmans, that Hmdn, temples really exid in the 

 interior of the iflandj though they be not common* 



The Brakmans are intruded with the whole of tk-e adminiL 

 ration of juftice, civil, criminal and ecclefiailic. Contrary to the 

 prsdtice of India, which places the magidracy in the hands of the 

 military clafs, it is here the cxclufive province of the piiefthood, who 

 are poffibly from the pofieffion of fuch valuable tempO'-al authority,,,, 

 induced to leave the common^ rixual of religion to their inferiors,. 



In every village there is one ©r more places of worfhip-. I vilited;. 

 t';vo @f thess rude temples, which in the language are denominated,,. 

 S&nga,. They confided of a fquare enclofure, the wall of raud, with-»- 

 out any other covering thao what the fn-ade of an Indian fig tree 

 afforded. Upon entering we fa^'/ nothing but a few wooden prefies of 

 the rudeft conftrudlion, containing fome cups with oil and wicks-. 

 prepared to be lighted op at night. A Sudrd entered' oae of thefe 

 temples with us, who feemed very anxious to fatisfy our curlofity as 

 far as lay in his power. He approached the wooden preffes with great 

 reverence, proftrating himielf before them ; and muttered fome prayer 

 which we could not wnderftand. I afked him through an intrepreterj 

 to whom he paid his adorations ; and he faid to the great god of the 

 o:ean (Deva agun Sagara,) The temple was within a few yards of^ 



