ARCHITECTURAL THEORIES. 



265 



work, and of a Gothic form, ran along the tops 

 of the houses, and over most of the gates. 



This taste for architectural ornament in wicker 

 is found in other uncivilized countries, at a dis- 

 tance from, and holding no communication with, 

 one another. In Java, in Manilla, and in Ceylon, 

 and probably at other places in the Eastern seas, 

 the natives are in the practice of erecting tem- 

 porary triumphal arches ; which exhibit a great 

 variety of very elegant forms, of a purely Gothic 

 character. In Ceylon, large buildings, entirely 

 of canes and basket-work, are sometimes erected, 

 of a highly ornamental description. The bamboo 

 and rattan are generally used ; but the willow, or 

 any pliable material possessing elasticity, seems 

 to afford, in the hands of these ingenious people, 

 an endless profusion of beautiful forms. In Java, 

 where there are a great number of such arches, it 

 is rare to observe exactly the same tracery repeat- 

 ed, although a striking consistency of character 

 pervades the whole. 



It is interesting to trace, in such remote re- 

 gions, the same analogies which, in Europe, have 

 been conceived to afford some explanation of the 



