Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1909-04-23
TRIP TO TIE: ORIENT
Clarence Z EdworGs Touring the
Eastern Countries.
HE is OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.
INTERESTINGLY Written IN WEEK
LY LETTERS, WHICH WILL AP.
PEAR IN THE RECORDER.

L1 LETTERS, w Huh w ILL -1I
PEAR IN THE RECORDER.
Batavia, Java, December 3.--ln
the mountains of Java are to be
found the ruins Of ancient temples,
which are so vast in extent, so sy-
metrical in proportion and so beau
tiful in architectural conception
that they may today be taken as
models for magnificent cOnstruc-
ton. They give indisputable evil
dence of mentality far in advance
of that of the present day in all con-
struction lines. These ancient tenn
pies have adorned the hill tops Of
Java for 50 long a time that there
is not even a legend that has bear
ing on their origin. Even the men,
ory of their occupation as religious
houses has been lost in the passing
Of time.
have just visited the ruins Of
Bara Budur, largest and best pre-
served of any Of the ruins to be
| found in this chain of islands. This
temple stands on a hill on the bank
of river, and it is a beautiful site
for such an edifce. There are
thousands of these temples to be
| found in the mountains Of Java,
but this description will suffice.
About fifty feet from the base OF
| the hill is q terrace, each of its four
sides being four hundred and nine
| ty-seven feet in length; five feet
aboev this is another terrace, each
side of which is three hundred and
sixty-fve feet long; eleven feet
higher is third terrace and, then
above are four Others, each proper
tionately smaller than its predeces-
sor. The structure is crowned by
cupola fifty-two feet in diameter,
and this is surrounded by sixteen
smaller cupolas.
The walls Of all these terraces are
highly decorated, the lower one
with figures Of lions; the second
with more that an hundred inches,
each containing the carved image
of a god, heEn out Of q solid block
CT stone, five feet high, Between
these gods are sitting figures Of men
and women. The inside Of this
wall is covered with has relief fig
ures despicting scenes evidently Of
the time when tho temple was
built.
The wonderful part Of this tenn
pie is its remarkable preservation in
face of the ages that must have
passed since it was built. There is
every evidence that the men who
built these temples know more OF
the secrets of nature than do the
men of today. Electricity was un.
doubtedly known to these people,
and used by them, AMI there are
many indications that the "discov-
cries" of modern science were
known and utilized by the people
who built these vast temples and
surrounded them with cities filed
with a highly civilized race.
The present population of Java
has nothing in common with these
ancicnts and are so low in the scale
CT humanity that they do not even
question the origin Of the ruins
which surround them. When Hol-
land obtained possession CT this is
land it contained population of
three million. Under the benif-
cent rule OF the Dutch this popula-
ton has doubled every twenty-five
years, and there are now twenty
million people here. To better un-
derstand what this density of pop
ulatiOn means | might say that if