pend it recklessly, regardless of
the future. If the needs of the present are supplied, that is
sufficient. When misfortune or disaster overtakes them they merely say:
"It is the will of God."

The temples built centuries ago are among the most wonderful structures
in the world. They vie in size and grandeur with those of India.
Thousands of these ruined temples are found scattered everywhere over
central and eastern Java, and many of them are built on the slopes and
summits of mountains. These ruins give evidence of the wonderful skill
in sculpture and building attained by the people in by-gone ages, a
skill not excelled even in modern times, but lost to the present
inhabitants.

The ruins of the great temple of Boro-Bodor, situated in the
south-central part of Java, are among the largest and most striking in
the world. This temple is square and was built in six terraces or steps
on the summit of a hill. The first terrace measures about five hundred
feet on each side, while each of the five decreases in size toward the
top. The last one is crowned by a cupola fifty-two feet in diameter,
surrounded by sixteen smaller ones.

Here in this great temple of the dead past may be seen scores of
statues, showing on their countenances the peace of Nirvana. On both
inside and outside of the structure are hundreds of images of Buddha and
carvings of scenes connected with his life. It is estimated that all of
the sculptures occupy an extent of wall at least three miles in length.
All the figures are carved from large blocks of lava.

This wonderful temple is built of lava blocks without lime or mortar,
the huge stones being jointed most accurately by tenons, mortises, and
dovetails which bind them solidly together.

Many of the temples erected by the Buddhists and Brahmanists were
destroyed by the Moslem invaders, and others abandoned. All of these
edifices became, during the succeeding centuries, overgrown with the
luxuriant tropical vegetation and partly buried. Some of them, like that
of Boro-Bodor, have been uncovered, displaying hundreds of statues and
long lines of bas-relief.

Java is one of the most productive regions of the world, otherwise
thirty millions of people could not live there. The greater part of the
islands consists of government plantations, but there are more than
twenty thousand private plantations. The Dutch government has built fine
wagon roads and miles of railways, otherwise the great crops of ric