inscription in some unknown tongue, of which, however,
sufficient has been deciphered to prove that it refers to
the foundation of the old town. Not far from this
place Mr. M. pointed out the quasi-Druidical remains
of an open-air altar, consisting of a large stone slab,
raised a few feet above the ground, and roughly
sculptured with designs now hardly discernible, also
some ill-shapen stone figures, apparently of fetish
origin, and a few earthenware vessels. The forest, in
which these relics were discovered, is supposed to have
been sacred, forming part of that superstition. There
is much resemblance in the above monument with those
already described, as existing in the forest districts of
Southern India, appertaining to a rude form of Hindu
worship, apparently pointing at a link in the gradual
adaptation of one religious system into another. In
the northern portion of Java the Brahmans held sway
in the earlier centuries of our era, long before Buddhism
completely superseded them between the tenth and
twelfth century, but it is a mute question whether the
inhabitants of those wild regions in the interior had
ever come within the influence of Brahminical teaching,
in fact absolute heathenism is said to exist there even
now to an unknown extent. Amongst the lower orders
Hinduism has always been strangely mixed up with
fetish superstition, ascribing magical power to carved
stones or figures, and this often makes it difficult to
arrive at a true decision as to the religious bias of
monuments of an early age. In Mysore, however, the
existence of caste and many other purely Hindu
customs settle the point beyond a doubt; it is different
in Java where the religion of Brahma has entirely
disappeared, excepting, perhaps, in a few isolated cases
amongst emigrants from India, in which the old rules
have long relapsed into comparative apathy, and
nothing remains but a few rites of minor importance.
Mr. M. informed me that the Chinamen to this day
perform their devotions at the altar we had been
examining; now they are doubtless Buddhists, for
although there are two other religions practised
in China, the Confucian and the Taouist, Fetishism
is unknown there, and the class of people from
which these pedlars in foreign lands spring do
not profess either of the other philosophical creeds,
hence the only conclusion one can come to is that, in
their gross ignorance, the Chinamen confound those
rather obese figures with others seen in their own
temples in China, representative or emblematic of
Buddha.
Previous to my return to Batavia, I had the opportunity
of witnessing the proceedings in the Court of
Q 2