Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/235

 INDIAN ISLANDERS. 205 pie of the Archipelago. The armour worn is not less characteristic. The spear, the kris, and the blowpipe for discharging the poisoned arrow, in all ages the weapons of the Indian islanders, are no where delineated on the temples, but, in- stead of them, we have — the straight sword and shield, — the bow and arrow, and the club. The combatants, when mounted, are conveyed in cars, or on elephants, both of these modes of convey- ance of foreign custom, for the elephant is not a na- tive of Java, and the nature of the country preclud- ed the use of wheeled carriages. ^. There is not a gross, indecent, or licentious, representation through- out, and very little, indeed, of what is even grotesque or absurd ; and 3. we discover no pointed nor very distinct allusion in the sculptures to the more cha- racteristic and unequivocal fieatures of Hinduism. Of the sculptures and decorations of the third class of temples, or those constructed of brick and mortar, the casing in which they were wrought is either entirely broken away, or so much defaced, that we can render no account of them. The more permanent materials of which the statues they con- tained consisted, has rescued them from a similar destruction, and some conjectures respecting them will be afterwards offered. he construction of the temples themselves is most excellent in its kind. The bricks are unusually large, and well Jburnt, and the mortar so good, that the junction