Evening star., 1901-11-16

came fountain OF gold. AT the same uHe
the clouds behind the mountain took on
roseate hue and moment later the great
round silver disk of the sun jumped up as
it were into the sky and flooded the world
with light.
Early Morning I'm Java.
The scenes of early morning in Java are
unlike those Of our country. 1 am here In
the atmosphere of the tropics, where the
heavens lie close to the earth, where the
moon appears larger, where the stars shed
a light almost equal to that of the moon
and where the sun is always dazzling. On
the dome of the temple surrounded by a
thousand Buddhas, l. seemed to be on
great stone island floating upon a sea of
vapor The vapor covered the plain In
thick fog, banking up in billows at the
foot of the mountain, making the whole
plateau a sea of f1eecy white spotted with
islands where the cocoanut trees rose out
of the fog This lasted until the sun rose,
when. as though by wand, his majesty OF
the heavens cleared the clouds away.
As l watched this spectacular extrava-
ganza operated by Mother Nature man
ager the orchestra burst forth with its
morning concert. The musicians were hum
dredS upon hundreds of birds, some no
larger than canaries, others big as rob-
ins and others still larger. 1 could see the
pigeons flying about u.s. making a whistling
noise through the wooden pipes attached
to their tails, thus soaring off the great
crow-like birds and vultures lowering about.
The birds flew through the monuments of
the old temple, hopping from statue to
statue, resting now and then on the nose
or hand of a Ruddha while they sang away
with all their might.
AS the rose higher the concert grew
louder, and mingled with it came the busy
hum that is always heard throughout the
daytime in this island hive inhabited by
100000 human bees. l could see the
workmen going out into the fields, looking
like ants on the landscape. Some of them
drove along buffaloes, which in the distance
seemed no larger than dogs, and gradually
the green fields were spotted with little
patches of white, the men and women who
were working in the fields.
The Vast Ruins of Brambanan.
The Temple of Boro Boedoer, however is
but one of the great ruins of Java. There
are others scattered over the country.
There are the remains of $50 temples lying
between Djokja and Solo, and about twenty
miles from here are the vast ruins OF
Brambanan and not far away from them
the site of the Chandi Sewu or the thous-
and temples.
l have spent a long time in wandering
about through this region. Brambanan is
only about twenty miles from Djokja and
1t can be reached by rail. From the station
it is but a walk to the ruined temples, and
l had no difficulty in finding them without
guide. The ruins cover an area greater
than the ground floor Of the Capitol at
Washington They are surrounded by
grove of Cocoanut and breadfruit trees, in
which the birds sang as l walked from one
stone building to another and photographed
the statues. / mounted the steps of one
great pile of volcanic rock The stone was
cut into blocks and carefully fitted, it's
sides being profusely carved This building
was, judge, about forty feet high, and at
the top was a great stone chamber whose
roof was the sky.
The Goddess With the Beautiful Hips.
In the back of this chamber, upon pedes-
tai just as high as my shoulder, was a most
beautiful statue representing a maiden
standing and looking down with sleepy
eyes. The statue was at least twenty
feet high, and it made me think of
some which have been brought from Egypt
and Nineveh to the British Museum The
face was beautiful and evidently taken from
life. The figure was one Of almost perfect
proportions, save that 1t was narrow at
the hips. from which fact it is called by
the people here THE goddess with the
beautiful hips" The name Of this goddess
is Lora Jongran. l sat down at her feet
and rested, looking up into her sleepy eyes
and hardly realizing that the ardent glance
l was getting was the same that those eyes
had given for more than 600 years.
l next examined the bas-reliefs on the
stones outside They are not unlike those
of the Boro Boedoer, although they SAVIOR
more of the Hindoo gods Brahma and Silva
than Of Buddha. In the chambers below /
found a great stone god with the body
of man and the head Of an elephant. 1t
was in a sitting posture the feet being
so arranged that the soles came together.
The carving was excellent, but the face
of the fat old god frowned, it seemed to
me, as l looked at him through the ground
glass of my camera.
The Thousand Temples.
Leaving this mass of ruins l walked a
couple of miles to the site Of the Thou
sand Temples The most Of these have dis
appeared, but there is a vast stone platform
reached by long walks, guarded by gigantic
stone figures every side. There are four
entrances to the temple and two of these
mighty figures at each entrance. Each
figure rests upon it's knee. 1t holds a great
club in one hand and a snake in the other,
while another great snake is wrapped
around over it's shoulders. The figures are
each carved out of one solid block Of vol
canic rock, and although kneeling, they are
nine feet in height. l climbed up on the
knees of one of them and from there got
to the shoulder and with my tape line took
the dimensions of the head. 1t measures
from shoulder to shoulder was forty-six
inches and the pedestal on which the giant
kneeled was fifteen inches. The figures
were very grotesque, but still wonderfully
l1fe-like. They have eyes about as big
around as a base ball and so made that
they seem to be popping out of their heads
They apparently wear wigs but whether
this is an evidence of the woolly hair
sometimes seen in the South seas or a
representation of false hair I do not know.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.