Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/40

 ?0 LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE " The monarch was furiously enraged ; he gnawed his mustaches. His countenance wa« inflamed, and his bosom red as the warawari flower. Sweat exuded from every pore ; the angles of his mouth trembled ; his eye-lashes stuck together. His rage was like that of him who stabs the guilt- less. He bounded from the earth, and took his flight in the regions of the air. His speed was like that of the falcon about to make a prey of the pigeon. In his desire to exact revenge for his sons, he seemed to feel as if he had already en- countered the adverse leader himself. He secret- ly rejoiced ; he vaunted, he called aloud, he chal- lenged all his enemies to meet him at once.'* The most abundant class of compositions are the romances founded on native story. A prince of Java called Panji is the hero of the greater num- ber. From inscriptions, this prince is ascertained to have reigned in the eastern extremity of the is- land, not more than 500 years back. A period which, with more civilized nations, would afford matter of historic record, is by the Javanese the era of fabulous legend, and unfathomable obscuri- ty. Not a single fact of the true history of the prince in question, or of the country in which he reigned, is handed down to us. What is most sin- gular, in all performances of this class, however, is their unaccountable feebleness and utter want