STUPENDOUS RUINS IN jAVA. (Abridged from Wallace's Malay Archipelago.)

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 184, 15 July 1873, Page 2

STUPENDOUS RUINS IN jAVA. (Abridged from Wallace's Malay Archipelago.)

Fkw Englishmen are aware of the number and beauty of the architectural remains in Java. They have never been properly illustrated or described, and it will, therefore, take most persons Jby sui prise to learn that they surpass those of Central America ; perhaps even those of India. Near the centre of Java is the village of Branbanam, near which are abundance of rums, the most important being the temples of Loro-Jongran and (.'handi Sewa. At LoroJongran there were twenty separate buildings, six large and fourteen small tempks. They are now a mass of ruins, but the largest temples are supposed to have been ninety feet high, They were all constructed of solid stone, everywhere decorated with carvings, and bas-rehefs,and adorned with a number of stitues, many of which still lemain entire. At Chandi Sewa, or "The Thousand Temples," are many fine colossal figures ; Captain liaker, who am veyed these ' ruins, s.ud he had never in his life seen such " stupendous and finished specimens of human labour, and of the science and taste of .iges long since forgot, crowded together in so small a compass as in this spot." They cover a space of nearly GOO aquaie fev,t, and consist of an outer row of eighty-four small temples, a second row of seventy-six, a third of sixty-four, a fourth of forty-four, and the fifth, forming an inner parallelogram, of twenty-eight — in all, 296 small temples, disposed in five regular parallelograms. In the centie is a large cruciform tdnple, suuoundel by lofty nights of steps, richly ornamented with sculpture, and containing many apartments. The tropical vegetation has ruined the smaller temples, but some remain tolerably perfect, from which the effect of the whole may be imagined About half a mile off ia another temple, called Chandi Kali Benmg, seventy -two feet square and sixty feet high, in rery fine preservation, and covered with sculptures of Hindoo mythology, surpassing any that exist in India. Other ruins of palaces, halls, and temples, with abundance of sculptured deities, are found in the same neighbourhood. Near the village of Modjo-agong are the ruins of the ancient city of Modjo-pahit. I examined a fragment consisting of two lofty brick masses, apparently the sides of a gateway. The extreme perfection and beauty of the brickwork astonished me. The bricks aro exceedingly fine and hard, with sharp angles and true surface. They are laid with great exactness, without visible mortar or cement, yet somehow fastened together so that the joints aro hardly perceptible, and sometimes the two surfaces coalesce in a most incomprehensible manner. Such admirable brickwork I ha\c never seen before or since. Traces of buildings exist for many miles in every direction, and almost every road and pathway shows a foundation of brickwork beneath it — Ike paved roads of the old city. I In the province of Kedu is the great temple of Borobodo. It is built upon a small hill, and consists of a central dome and seven ranges of terraced walls covering the slope of the lull and forming open galleries each below the other, and communicating by steps and gateways. The central dome is 50 feet in diameter ; around it is a triple civcle of 72 towers, and the whole building is 620 feet square, and about 100 feet high. In the terraced walls are niche 9 containing cross-legged figures larger than life, to the number of about 400, and both sides of the terraced walls are covered with bas-reliefs, crowded with figures, and carved in hard stone ; and which must therefore occupy an extent of nearly three miles in length ! The amount of human labour and skill expended on the Great Pyramid of Egypt sinks into insignificance whon compared with that required to complete this sculptured lull-temple in the interior of Java. About 40 miles g.W. of Samarang on a mountain called Gunong Prau, an extensive plateau is covered with ruins. To reach these tomples are four flights of stono steps up the mountain from opposite directions, each flight consisting of more than a thousand steps. Traces of nearly 400 temples have been found here, and many (perhaps all) were decorated w ith rich and delicate sculptures. jTJie w hole country between this and Brambauam, a distance of 60 miles, abounds with nuns ; go that fine sculptured images may bo »een lying in tho ditches, or built into the walls or enclosures. In the eastern part of Java and m Malang are equally abundant traces of antiquity. Sculptured figures abound ; and the ruins of forts, palaces, baths, aqueducts, »nd temples are to bo everywhere seen I luue felt bound to call attention to these marvellous works of art. One is overwhelmed by the contemplation of these innumerable sculptures, worked with delicacy and artistic feeling in a hard intractable trachytie rock, and all found in one tropical island. What could have been the stuto of society, what the amount of population, v lint the means of subsistence which rendered such gigantic work« possible, will, perhaps, ever remain a mystery 9 And it is n wonderful example of the power of religious ideas m social life that in tho very country where, 500 yerrs ago, those grand worki wero being yearly executed, the inhabitants now only build rude hous-o of bamboo and thatch, and look upon these relics of their forefathers with ignorant ainuijuieut, as the undoubted production of giant a or of demons.

The following reference to the death of Mr Oraj appears in the Wangnmu Evening Herald • — " Mr William Gray, the l'ost-ollicc Inspector, was essentially a self-made Mian — one who ruisiul himself, without nny adventitious aid, solely by hm own integrity, talent, and administrative sagacity, from the ohargeofa rural post-office to tlio hi^liCAt position in the Postal department; and very few are nniiro how much this important service has been bencfitted and unpioicd by his Bitggestions an I unremitting attention. Personally, Mr Gray was known to oil who really knew him as one of the most upright of men, pious, friendly, and of true and untouched modesty. We believe it was his devotion to the work of his department which brought on the disease to which he has fallen a vctim, and it may bo almost literally said that lie died at hit post. It u not many weeks ago sinco he left Wellington for America, with inductions to auist Mr Russell in certain negotiations connected with the San Francisco mail route, and in tlio hope that thereafter a voyago to England, and the best medical advice, might tend to the restoration of his shattered health. Mr Gray was unable te proceed further than Sun Francisco, and there, when the grout change became cortain, we are suro he prepared himself to die in the blessed faith of that Christianity wbiek had boon hi* guide and comfort, through life. Mrs Gray accotnpunit d him on this last sod journey, and she is now lonely and a stranger in u strange land. A wide circle of friends must frcl the deepest sympathy for her and her bereaved family under circumstances io very trying."