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T H E H O L Y O F H O L I E S 3 1 1
of the image from his shoulders downwards. To
this fact may perhaps be due the common, but mistaken,
description of the Jo as a standing figure. Across
and across his breast are innumerable necklaces of
gold, set with turquoises, pearls, and coral. The throne
on which he sits has overhead a canopy supported
by two exquisitely designed dragons of silver-gilt,
each about 10 feet in height. Behind him is the panel
of conventional wooden foliage, and the “ Kyung,”
or Garuda Bird, overhead can just be seen in the darkness.
Closer examination shows that almost every
part of the canopy and seat is gilded, gold, or jewelled.
The crown is perhaps the most interesting jewel. It
is a deep coronet of gold,- set round and round with
turquoise, and heightened by five conventional leaves,
each enclosing a golden image of Buddha, and encrusted
with precious stones. In the centre, below the
middle leaf, is a flawless turquoise 6 inches long and
3. inches wide, the largest in the world. Behind the
throne are dimly seen in the darkness huge figures
standing back against the wall of the shrine all round.
Rough-hewn, barbarous, and unadorned they are, but
nothing else could have so well supplied the background
for this treasure of treasures as the Egyptian
solemnity of these dark Atlantides, standing shoulder
to shoulder on altar stones, where no lamps are ever
lighted and no flowers are ever strewn. Before the
entrance, protecting the treasures of the shrine, is the
usual curtain of horses’ bits. This was unfastened at
our request, and we were allowed to make a careful
examination of the image. The gems are not, perhaps,
up to the standard of a European market; so far as
one could see, the emeralds were large, but flawed,