134 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
sides are covered with bas-reliefs, elaborately executed 
in hard stone, and illustrative of Hindu mythology in 
the strangest mixture of Buddhism and Brahmanism. 
These sculptures have been estimated to occupy an 
extent of wall of nearly three miles in length, and the 
amount of labour and skill expended upon this stupendous 
temple must have been as great as, if not greater than, 
that required to build the Great Pyramid. Unlike the 
dagobas of Ceylon, the apical cupola—which is 50 feet 
in diameter—is a hollow chamber, which shows no trace 
of a shrine. The enigmatical verse, which, as in the case 
of the Hindus, serves as Javanese chronology, places the 
date of the construction of the building at a.d. 1344, 
which may possibly be correct, for the perfect preserva¬ 
tion of the greater part of the structure is against its 
being of any great antiquity. 
Although few or no remains of temples are to be 
found in the mountainous Sunda lands, where, indeed, 
the Hindu influence never established itself, the moun¬ 
tains of Central and Eastern Java were special objects 
of veneration by those who followed the cult of Siva, 
and innumerable chandis or temples are found upon 
their slopes and summits. The plateau of Dieng, over¬ 
looking the vast extinct crater of Gunong Prau, has the 
most remarkable group of this nature. Vast flights of 
steps lead up to it from opposite sides of the mountain, 
each flight consisting of more than 1000 steps. Traces 
of nearly 400 temples have been found here and in the 
neighbourhood, all of which appear to have been decorated 
with rich and delicate sculptures, and others of smaller 
size are met with at or near the actual summit of the 
mountain. Upon the great volcano Lawu, to the south¬ 
west of Samarang, are temples of a later date and 
different character. They rise in terraces one above the 
