ian sovereignty. The eighth century A.D. was the meridian
of the Javanese Empire, and in the subsequent changes of nationality
the facial type of the past has altered beyond recognition, for in the
ancient civilisation depicted on these sculptured terraces,
archaeologists assert that every physiognomy is either of Hindu or
Hellenic character. Ships of archaic form, with banks of rowers;
palm-thatched huts built on piles, in the unchanging fashion of the
Malay races; graceful _bedayas_, the Nautch girls of Java, performing
the old-world dances still in vogue; and women with _lotahs_ on their
heads, passing in single file to palm-fringed tanks, might be
represented with equal truth in this twentieth century. Seedtime and
harvest, ploughing and reaping, bullock-carts and water-buffaloes,
fruit-laden wagons and village _passers_, pass in turn before the
spectator in this wondrous gallery of native art. Richly-caparisoned
elephants suggest Indian accessories of royal life and State
ceremonial, an occasional touch of humour enlivening the solemn
pageantry. In one grotesque relief a _bedaya_ and an elephant stand
_vis-a-vis_, the ponderous monster imitating the steps of the slim
maiden in floating veil and embroidered robes, her slender limbs
contrasting with the outflung feet of her clumsy partner. Weird myths
of the great fishes which guided and propelled the coracle-like boats
of the first Buddhist missionaries to the shores of Java are
perpetuated in stone, and the forest, sloping down to the wave-beaten
coast, shows the rich vegetation which still clothes this island of
eternal summer. The _sumboya_ or flower of the dead, droops over
stately tombs; bamboo and palm, banana and bread-fruit, mingle their
varied foliage; mangosteen and pomegranate, mango and tamarind, acacia
and peepul, show themselves as indigenous growths of the fertile soil;
while palace and temple, carven stairway, and flower-girt pavilion,
suggest the wealth and prosperity of the ancient empire. The mighty
Temple of Boro-Boedoer, built up through successive ages, indicates the
gradual change from the simplicity of the early faith, at first
supplanting, and eventually becoming incorporated with, the Brahminism
which succeeded it in modified form, as though rising from the ashes of
the earlier Hindu creed which Buddhism virtually destroyed. In the
higher terrace, the last addition to this stupendous sanctuary, the
images of Buddha represent the ninth _Avata