Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/257

Rh. Numbers of columns, some perfect, others broken, were to be seen on all sides, several encrusted with stalactites presenting the appearance of bunches of grapes or the leaves of trees. As we advanced farther in we found almost a perfect-shaped dome, from the outer edge of which were suspended stalactites resembling a fringe of icicles. The men who accompanied us lit some damar torches, the effect of which was startling and grand.

Before we entered the boat to return, the men gave us some curious fish which they had just caught, called by the natives cuda and sapi laot, sea-horse and sea-cow. The former we have all most probably seen, but the latter I never saw before they were shown to me in Java. It is a small fish, very thick in the body, which in form is almost the fac simile of a cow's head and neck, even to two small horns which crown its head. It has two fins at the sides and one at the end of its