Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/321

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
SOMBRE JUNGLES.
303

statues, two of which had heads like those of tigers, with a leaf above and on each side of two large staring eyes. These leaves, which are called jayang-patie, or archomawan, are supposed by the natives to have been used by the deities as topengs, or masks, and were brought from the forest of Kamal, through part of which we had already driven.

After passing this post, we entered sombre jungles of Teak and Kasamby, the latter not unlike the Verengen, and held in great veneration by the natives, who were showering flowers and burning incense under some of them. The Cuppoo, or common cotton tree, is likewise very common here, growing to the height of fifty and sixty feet, and with but few leaves on the branches, from which hang the pods, about four inches in length and one and a half in thickness. When ripe, these pods become quite hard and dark, generally splitting from top to bottom, and showing the raw cotton