224 LIFE IX JAVA.
a temple above thirty feet high, the style of archi- tecture differing slightly from that of those we had seen in the valley. In the four facades of the tower, besides several empty niches, are recesses still filled with monstrous-shaped heads. A good view of the Dieng, with its temples, and of other mountains in the neighbourhood, also crowned with sacred buildings, is obtained from this position.
The clouds, which for some time had looked dark and lowering, now rained down upon us such a pelting shower, that we urged our horses on to a brisk pace, in order that we might see all there was to be seen, and return as soon as possible to the Dieng. After a tedious series of ascents and descents, we at length arrived at the Kawa Kedung, a hot muddy valley between the Bram- banan and Modrodo. The base of the latter moun- tain is thickly encrusted with sulphureous matter, running down like lava from the crevices on its sides, accompanied at intervals with dense volumes
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