stirs; the toils of day are forgotten in wholesome repose; it is the hour of Amitabha, ruler of the region of sunset and spiritual father of the present world’s ruler, the one whose hands rest in his lap after the completion of a laborious task. Morning will come and in time the creation of a new world, the world of loving-kindness, Vishvapani’s, the Metteya Buddha’s own--in time, long time! A _gardu_[161] strikes seven; another answers immediately with eight strokes on the _beloq_;[161] far away no more than six respond,--what is time to the native! Silence reigns again, silence emphasised by the high-pitched notes of a _suling_,[162] quavering indistinctly as the evening breeze speeds the lover’s complaint or refuses its aid. A noise of revelry in the _pasangrahan_ distracts the attention from this tuneful courtship; the visionary beings that were taking life from the germ of thought hidden in its shrine, petrify into mute statues or vanish altogether: the spell of the Boro Budoor is broken. [Illustration: XXXVII. REACHING THE CIRCULAR TERRACES OF THE BORO BUDOOR (Cephas Sr.)] [Illustration] FOOTNOTES: [143] Such is the name given to a stretch of beach, not far from Tanjoong Priok, the harbour of Batavia, much resorted to, for bathing and advertisement, by that city’s frail sisterhood, and Batavians will appreciate the young naval officer’s _bon mot_ better than did his aunt, a provincial spinster, when at length she fathomed it. [144] A description, dated October 12, 1858, informs us that the piece of ivory, supposed to have garnished the jaw of Gautama, is about the size of the little finger, of a rich yellow colour, slightly curved in the middle and tapering. The thickest end, taken for the crown, has a hole into which a pin can be introduced; the thinnest end, taken for the root, looks as if worn away or tampered with to distribute fragments of the relic. [145] Reports and Communications of the Dutch Royal Academy, 1895. [146] According to another explanation these incompleted pieces of sculpture, found lying about, were rejected in the building because they did not come up to the architect’s requirements. [147] _The Ruin of the Boro Budoor or Vandalism_, signed GOENA DARMA. It is no indiscretion, I believe, to reveal behind this significant pseudonym Father P. J. HOEVENAARS, of whose sagacious observations I shall avail myself repeatedly in the following account of the temple’s history. [148] Invention being stimulated by quasi-historical novels like GRAMBERG’S _Mojopahit_. [149] Vide _De Java-Oorlog_, commenced by Captain P. J. F. LOUW, continued by Captain E. S. DE KLERCK and published under the auspices of the _Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences_, vols. i. and ii.