Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/38

i4i LANGUAGE AXD LITERATURE cheek is as the blossom of the Turi tree ; your chin as the angle of an adze, with its handle ; your neck bends like the tendril of a weeper ; your wide bosom is becoming ; your breasts are as the ivory coco-nut, leaving nothing to desire. The breasts of my princess are like two young co- co-nuts, bound in a vest of red, full and smooth, intoxicating to madness. Her shoulders are po- lished and slender; her arms like an unstrung bow ; her waist as if it would break by an effort. The tips of her fingers are as thorns, her nails long and becoming ; her legs are shaped as the flower of the pudac ; the soles of her feet are arched. My fair one looks as if she would perish at the breath of love. Were all her perfections to be enumerated, how little room, how much to write. A year's search will not produce her equal." Of romances, founded on Hindu story or my- thology, I have already said a few words in speak- ing of the obsolete and recondite language. Trans- lations of various merit or demerit of the Brata- yuda and Ramayana exist in modern Javanese ; and from the latter, in particular, a great many compositions are fabricated, detailing the various adventures of Rama. One advantage the Java- nese epitomes have over the Sanskrit originals, they are free from their tiresome prolixity ; and I have BO doubt that a spirited version of the Brata-yuda