the upper part will permit of its being seen, is very good, effect being given by
an immense number and variety of projecting or retreating courses of squared
stones in place of mouldings. The size of this structure is about thirty feet square
by twenty high, and as the traveller comes suddenly upon it on a small elevation
by the roadside, overshadowed by gigantic trees, overrun with plants and
creepers, and closely backed by the gloomy forest, he is struck by the solemnity
and picturesque beauty of the scene, and is led to ponder on the strange law of
progress, which looks so like retrogression, and which in so many distant parts
of the world has exterminated or driven out a highly artistic and constructive
race, to make room for one which, as far as we can judge, is very far its inferior.
Few Englishmen are aware of the number and beauty of the architectural
remains in Java. They have never been popularly illustrated or described, and it
will therefore take most persons by surprise to learn that they far surpass those of
Central America, perhaps even those of India. To give some idea of these ruins,
and perchance to excite wealthy amateurs to explore them thoroughly and obtain
by photography an accurate record of their beautiful sculptures before it is too
late, I will enumerate the most important, as briefly described in Sir Stamford
Raffles' "History of Java."
BRAMBANAM.—Near the centre of Java, between the native capitals of
Djoko-kerta and Surakerta, is the village of Brambanam, near which are
abundance of ruins, the most important being the temples of Loro-Jongran and
Chandi Sewa. At Loro-Jongran there were twenty separate buildings, six large
and fourteen small temples. 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-reliefs, and adorned
with numbers of statues, many of which still remain entire. At Chandi Sewa, or
the "Thousand Temples," are many fine colossal figures. Captain Baker, who
surveyed these ruins, said he had never in his life seen "such stupendous and
finished specimens of human labour, and of the science and taste of ages long
since forgot, crowded together in so small a compass as in this spot." They cover
a space of nearly six hundred feet square, 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
two hundred and ninety-six small temples; disposed in five regular
parallelograms. In the centre is a large cruciform temple surrounded by lofty
flights of steps richly ornamented with sculpture, and containing many
apartments. The tropical vegetation has ruined most of the smaller temples, but
some remain tolerably perfect, from which the effect of the whole may be