Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/234

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
216
LIFE IN JAVA.

sheltered position. The first objects we remarked were two altars of hewn trachyte, the stones composing which were cemented together with mortar. On one of the altars, which are fully fifty paces from each other, was seated an enormous figure, cut out of a solid block of granite, twelve feet in height, by six or eight in thickness, and in wonderful preservation. With large protruding eyes, prominent nose, curved at the nostrils and point, wide mouth, thick, sensual-looking lips, two upper and two lower tusks, it presented a very remarkable and by no means pleasing appearance. On the head was a tiara studded with cleverly chiselled death's heads; the long ears were pierced with ornaments very minutely cut, and from the cartilage of both were suspended hideous skulls. Numbers of chains were hung round the neck, and a loose scarf fell across the broad chest from the left shoulder to the right. Massive bracelets encircled the wrists and biceps, and the right arm