The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

VII.] JAVA. 77there is a wooden gong, which by means of concerted signalsmay be made to convey information over the country with greatrapidity. About every six or seven miles is the post-house, wherethe horses are changed as quickly as were those of the mail inthe old coaching days in England.I stopped at Modjo-kerto, a small town about forty miles southof Sourabaya, and the nearest jjoint on the liigh road to thedistrict I wislied to visit. I had a letter of introduction to Mr.Ball, an Englishman long resident in Java and married to aDutch lady, and he kindly invited me to stay with him till Icould fix on a j^lace to suit me. A Dutch Assistant Kesident aswell as a Eegent or native Javanese prince lived here. Thetown was neat, and had a nice open grassy space like a villagegreen, on which stood a magnificent tig-tree (allied to the Banyanof India, but more lofty), under whose shade a kind of market iscontinually held, and where the inhabitants meet together tolounge and chat. The day after my arrival, Mr. Ball drove meover to the Aillage of Modjo-agong, where he was building ahouse and premises for the tobacco trade, which is carried onhere by a system of native cultivation and advance purchase,somewhat similar to the indigo trade in British India. On ourM'ay we stayed to look at a fragment of the ruins of the ancientcity of Modjo-pahit, consisting of tw^o lofty brick masses, apparentlythe sides of a gateway. The extreme perfection andbeauty of the brickwork astonished me. The bricks are exceedinglyfine and hard, with sharp angles and true surfaces. Theyare laid with great exactness, without visible mortar or cement,yet somehow fastened together so that the joints are hardly percej)tible,and sometimes the two surfaces coalesce in a most incomprehensiblemanner. Such admirable brickwork I havenever seen before or since.There was no sculpture here, butabundance of bold projections and finely-worked mouldings.Traces of buildings exist for many miles in every direction, andalmost every road and pathway shows a foundation of brickworkbeneath it— the paved roads of the old city. In the house of theWaidono or district chief at Modjo-agong, I saw a beautiful figurecarved in high relief out of a block of lava, and which had beenfound buried in the ground near the village. On my expressinga wish to obtain some such specimen, Mr. B. asked the chief forit, and much to my surprise he immediately gave it me. It representedthe Hindoo goddess Durga, called in Java, LoraJonggrang (the exalted \irgin). She has eight arms, and standson the back of a kneeling bull. Her lower riglit hand holds thetail of the bull, while tlie corresponding left hand grasps thehair of a capti^•e, Dewth Mahikusor, the personification of vice,who has attempted to slay her bull. He has a cord round hiswaist, and crouches at her feet in an attitude of supplication.The other hands of the goddess hold, on her right side, a doublehook or small anchor, a broad straight sword, and a noose ofthick cord ; on her left, a girdle or armlet of large beads or