106 



JAVA. 



[CflAP. VII 



insiguificauce wlien compared with that requirtd to com- 

 plete this .sculptured hill-teniple m the interior of Java. 



GuNONG PiiAU. — Ahout forty miles soutli-west of Sama- 

 rang, on a laoimtain called Gunong Pimi, an extensive 

 plateau is covered with ruius. To reach these templii^ 

 tour lUghta of stone steps were made up the mountain 

 tVom opposite tlirections, each tlight consiatiug of more 

 llum a thousand steps. Traces of nearly ibur hundred 

 temples have heen found here, aud many (perhaps all) 

 were decorated with rich and delicate scidptures. Tho 

 wliole country hetweeu tliis and Bi-anibauani, a distance 

 ot sixty miles, ahounils with ruins ; so that fine sculptured 

 images may he seen lying in the ditches, or built into 

 the walk ot" enclosures. 



In the eastern part of Java, at Ketliri and in Malaiig, 

 there are equally abundant trac^js of antiquity, but the 

 buildings themselves have been mostly destioyed. Sculi> 

 tured tigures, however, abo^md; and the ruins of forts, 

 palaces, baths, aqueducts, and temples, can be everywhere 

 traced. It is altogether contrary to the plan of this book 

 to describe what I have not myself seen ; but, having bet'ii 

 led to mention them, I felt bound to do something to call 

 attention to these marvellous works of art One is over- 

 whelmed by the contemplation of these innumerable 

 sculptures, worked with deliciujy and artistic feeling in 

 a hard, intractable, trachytic rock, and all found in one 

 tropical island. What could have been the state of society, 

 what the amount of population, what the means of sub- 

 sistence which rendered such gigantic works possible, will, 

 perhaps, ever remain a mystery; and it is a wonderful 

 example of the power of religious ideas in social life, that 

 in the very country where, five hundred yeai-s ago, these 

 grand works were bemg yearly executed, the inhabitants 

 now only build rude houses of bamboo and thatch, and 

 look upon these relics of their forefathers with ignorant 

 amazement, as the undoubted productions of giants or of 

 denions. It is much to be regretted that the Dutch 

 Government do not take vigorous steps for the presen'ation 

 of these ruins from tho destroying agency of tropical 

 vegetation ; and for the collection of tlie fine sculpturea 

 which arc everywhere scattered over the land 



