period when he attained
Nirvana.

The third gallery wall contains one hundred and eighty bas-reliefs,
depicting the apotheosis of Buddha. The fourth, in eighty different
scenes, pictures the rewards given to kings who have been Buddha
worshippers, while the fifth contains a large number of images of Buddha
and of two kings, probably the founders of the temple. Other bas-reliefs
that are interspersed represent fanciful subjects and scenes from life
or are illustrations of legends; one of the latter deals with the
turtle, which is regarded as sacred by all true Buddhists.

Staircases ascend from gallery to gallery in a straight line on each of
four sides. These have pointed arches with carved keystones, and
formerly were guarded by heavy banisters and carved lions. The parapeted
walls of the galleries were once decorated with four hundred and
thirty-two niches, each with three turrets, and contained four hundred
and thirty-two life-sized Buddhas, seated on lotus cushions.

[Illustration: _Boro Boedor, in Java_]

[Illustration: _Stairway of Boro Boedor, Java_]

[Illustration: _Boro Boedor, Java, showing one part of the gallery_]

The three upper circular terraces are individually adorned with
thirty-two, twenty-four, and sixteen openwork bell-shaped cupolas, or
dagobas, each containing a Buddha in sitting posture. Inside this circle
rises the central dagoba of huge, imposing dimensions, the final crown
to the whole structure. This is modelled after the same type as the
smaller ones, but its walls rise perpendicularly from the base, which
has the form of a huge lotus cushion in a beautiful frame, and ends at
the top in a slightly rounded dome rising at least twenty-seven feet
above the highest terrace. Of the cone which formerly surrounded this
dagoba nothing is left except part of the pedestal, a stone block
afterwards fashioned into a seat five feet high by ten feet broad. This
is reached by some rough stone steps. The cupola, or dagoba, was at one
time entirely closed, but when opened some years ago it was found to
contain a large unfinished figure of Buddha.

Our party climbed to the seat alluded to, and what a view presented
itself!--a wide valley or plain, miles in extent, surrounded by the
towering Minoch mountains in the distance, with lesser mountains
seemingly as foothills, but nevertheless some of them volcanic craters;
villages almost concealed by the masses of foliage, with whole tracts of
palms and mas