ing conversation with two native
officials attached to the staff of the Sultan at Djocjakarta. These men
had never left the island of Java, yet one of them read and spoke
English with ready fluency and perfect accent.

Next day, in spite of the delay caused by the wash-out on the line, we
were able to reach Djocjakarta by tiffin time, and devoted the afternoon
to the Hindu ruins at Parambanan.

[Illustration: THE BARA BUDUR.]

Hindu Ruins in Central Java.

A visit to Java would be incomplete did it not include a pilgrimage to
the marvellous products of religious fervour which Buddhism reared in
the plains around Djocjakarta before it went down before the
all-conquering onslaught of Moslemism. These ruins testify to an ancient
art and civilisation and culture and an instinct of creation few are
aware of to-day, and it is hard to resist the temptation to indulge in
extravagant language when attempting to describe them as they now stand,
partially restored by the Dutch authorities.

Miss Scidmore has lavished the wealth of her luxuriant vocabulary upon
them, but neither she, nor any of her predecessors in the work of
praise, saw them as they stand to-day--a wonder alike to archaeologist,
architect, artist and student of comparative religions. Here in the
centre of fertile plains we have the real Java of ancient times.

The Dutch had been in possession of the island for two hundred years
without discovering the rich deposits hidden beneath the accumulated
mounds of centuries and buried under a mass of tropical vegetation. To
the active mind of Sir Stamford Raffles the discovery was due. He went
to Java as Lieutenant-Governor in 1811, and during the period it was
under his control, he had the mounds explored, the ruined temples
un-earthed and their historic import co-related with the romantic
legends and poetic records rescued from the archives of the native
princes. It was due to the investigations of this great Englishman that
the date of the construction of the temples was fixed at the beginning
of the seventh century of the Christian era, and subsequent
investigators (prominent amongst whom must be placed Dr. I. Groneman,
now and for many years resident of Djocjakarta and Honorary President of
its Archaeological Society) agree in accepting this period as
authentically proved from the ruins themselves.

[Illustration]

Sir Stamford was of opinion that the temples, as works of labour and
art, dwarf to not