Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/314

296 the likeness. Each of these rooms is capable of holding twenty men; the two in front being the lightest, as those at the back are divided by a wall, with only an opening left for communication. At the further end of the two first chambers there are seats, and a kind of alcove or recess, where Buddhist priests or patriarchs may have probably sat, grim and silent, watching the fitful flame of the offering, while the voice of hundreds upon hundreds of devotees, standing in and at the foot of the vaults, made the gloomy caverns resound with their songs and prayers.

In both of these rooms is an altar, placed in the centre of the floor, on each side of which are two figures, standing erect, with their arms crossed on their breast, known to the natives by the names of Dunawang and Gewymongsajie. On the ceiling are sculptured several faces, disfigured by time, and the head of an alligator, the scales of which are minutely chiselled.