Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/264

248, are said to be the descendants of these conquerors.

The façade of this singular building consists of several towers, like kiosks surrounded with verandahs, each of which is ascended by a spiral staircase in the interior. At the back of the château is an artificial lake, studded with numbers of isles and islets, communicating with each other by means of subterranean passages. This lake, which now unfortunately has more the air of a swamp than of a clear sheet of water, is thickly grown with tall rushes. In the interior of the main portion of the building are several apartments connected with each other by small bridges, spanning narrow dry channels, which were once running rivulets.

The object of the luxury-loving Sultan in erecting a place of this kind seems to have been an eccentric desire to enjoy the alternate periods of amusement and repose, in which his life was passed,