Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/235

Rh was slightly raised, the two first fingers being pointed, as if in the act of commanding, or giving emphasis to an oracle. A belt of skulls encircled the corpulent stomach, and the left hand rested on a walking-stick or sceptre of stone.

The second altar is much broken, and overgrown with Guava and Suma trees, the roots of which have penetrated into the interstices, and dislodged many of the stones. The figure formerly upon it now sits slantingly in a damp hollow, into which it has fallen, probably finding that its position on the pedestal had become uncomfortable and unsteady from its broken condition. I could find no Javanese who could tell me the names these figures went by, though, from the fear and reverence with which they were regarded, they were doubtless believed to have been sent down from Heaven, in God's wrath, to terrify the inhabitants of the island. My conjecture is, from the number of