The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-09-30
BoRo RoEDoR.
4 Great Buddhist Ruin In Java That
RiYala the PYfamida d.

A Great buddhist Ruin In JAYS rhat
Rivals the Pyramids.
A gray ruin showed indistinctly on .
hill-top, and, after a run through a
long, arched avenue, we came out sud-
denly at the base of the hill-temp,e.
Instead of a mad, triumphant sweep
around the great pyramid, the ponies
baked, rooted themselves past any
lashing or "Gr-r-ree-ing," and we got
out and walked under the MONDAY sun,
around the hoary high altar of Buddha,
down an avenue of tall kanari-trees,
lined with statues, gargoyles and other
such recha, or remains of ancient art,
to the .passagran, or government rest
house. 49,. 4..1}
The deep portico of the passagran
commands an angle and two sides of the
square temple, and from the mass of
blackened and bleached stones the eye
finally arranges and follows out the
broken lines of the terraced pyramid,
| covered with such wealth Of ornament
as no other one structure in thesworld
presents. The first;near viewsis almost
disappointing. In the blur of details
it is difficult to realize the vast proper
tons of this twelve-century-old Sstruc-
ture-a pyramid the base platform of
which is 500 feet square, the first ter
race walls are 300 feet square, and the
final dome rises to a height Of 100 feet.
Stripped of every kindly relief Of vine
and moss, every gap and ruined angle
visible, there was something garish,
raw, and almost disordered at the first
glance, almost as Earring as newness,
and the hard black-and-white effect of
the dark lichens on the gray trachyte
made it look like bad photograph of
the pile.
The temple stands on broad plat
form, and rises first in. five square ter
races, inclosing galleries, or procession
a. paths, between their walls, which are
covered on each side. with bas-reliei:
sculptures. If placed in single line:
miles. The terrace walls hold 436
inches or alcove chapels, where life
size Buddhas sit serene upon lotus
cushions. Staircases ascend instraight
lines from each of the four sides, pass
ing under stepped or pointed arches
the keystones of which are deliberately
carved masks, and rows of sockets in
doors once swung.
Above the square terraces are three
circular terraces, where - latticed
dagobas (reliquaries in the shape of the
calyx or bud of the lotus) incloses each
seated image, ~ more Buddhas sit
ting in these inner, upper circles of Mir
vana, facing a great dagoba, or final
cupola, the exact function or purpose of
which as key to the whole structure is
still the puzzle of archaeologists. This
final shrine is so feet in diameter, and
either covered a relic of Buddha, or a
central well where the ashes of priests
and princes were deposited, or is form
surviving from the tree-temples of the
earliest primitive east when nature
worship prevailed. The English engin-
GERS made an opening in the solid ex-
terror, and found an unfinished statue
of Buddha on a platform over a deep
well-hole, and it's head, half buried in
debris, Still smiles upon one from the
deep cavern. A staircase has been con-
structed to the summit of this dagoba,
and from it one looks down upon the
whole structure as on ground-plan
drawing, and out over finely cultivated
fields and thick palm-groves to the
.matchless peaks and the nearer hills
that inclose this fertile valley of the
Boro, Boedor-"the very finest view I
ever saw" wrote Marianne North.
Three-fourths of the terrace chape,s
and the upper dagobas have crumbled;
hundreds of statues are head;ess, arm
less, overturned, missing; tees, or
finals, are gone from the bell-roofs;
terrice walls bulge, lean outward, and
have fallen in long stretches; and the
circular platforms and the professional
paths undulate as if earthquake-waves
were at the moment rocking the mass.
No cement was used to hold the fitted
stones together and other Hindu pecul-
iarities of construction are the entire
absence of column, a pillar, or an arch.
Vegetation wrought great ruin during
it's buried centuries, but earthquakes
and tropical rains are working now a
slow but surer ruin that will leave
little of Boro Boedor for the next
century's wonder-seekers, unless the
walls are soon straightehed and strong
" braced.-Miss E. r. Scidmore, in
Century.
A Great Fire-Fighter.