and "secular" cities, and the new departure taken last year at the instance of Sir Arthur Gordon by the appointment of so competent an officer as Mr. H. C. P. Bell, as archæological commissioner, could not fail of important results, even though that officer has been most inadequately supplied with the means to carry on his operations. Very fortunate, however, Mr. Bell has been in securing the cordial co-operation of the present Government agent, Mr. Ievers, who in the past was instrumental in bringing many very interesting ruins to light; and of Mr. A. Murray, provincial engineer. Under the latter's direction, there has been carried out the conservation of King Dutugemunu's Miriswetiya Dagaba, by the construction of great rings of encircling masonry, some of it being arched after a fashion certainly unknown two centuries B.C.. but none the less ornamental, while decidedly excelling in strength. All the preservation and restoration here is being done at the expense of a Prince of Siam who paid down a large amount to secure prompt attention. There has been of late years, therefore, and there still continues, much stir among the ancient monuments and ruins of Anuradhapura. A great amount of work has been done since Sir John Dickson constructed his outer and inner circular roads; but if only properly prosecuted, there can be no doubt that the mission of Mr. Bell is destined to lay bare that which cannot fail to add immensely to the interest of the ancient capital. Mr. Bell's first report published last year, and his second which only reaches us to-day, though dated October last, fully show this. First, we have a complete plan of the "Supposed Monastery of the Abhayagiri fraternity, Anuradhapura "-the sect of Buddhists who adopted the "Wytulian" heresy. Next comes what is perhaps Mr. Bell's most interesting "find," in a handsome "Buddhist Railing "-the only one found in Ceylon-enclosing a building south of the Abhayagiri Dagoba. It is all of solid masonry, the openings in the railing being horizontal slits, small in proportion to the massiveness of the " posts" and "rails." The work in coping" and " plinth "and in the "pillars" of the building is clearly laid down, and the whole railing is found to enclose a considerable space. Next we have a partly coloured plan of the west façade of a brick building at the fifth mile on the outer circular road. with the ground plan and pavement elevation. Finally, a diagram is given of an "ancient stone bridge over the Kanadarawa Ela," with the elevation, plan and section, the bridge being some eighty to ninety feet long. On the other hand, it has to be remembered that, so far, scarcely anything has been done beyond the bounds of the so-called "sacred city." Beyond its limits, on the north side, lay extended the "secular" city, and the greatest "find" of all perhaps the king's palace"-can only be discovered in this outside division. Who is to find it to lay the walls and pillars of this palace bare? The fact is, that not until there is a clearing away of four or five feet of superincumbent earth from several square miles, can justice be done to the exploration and excavation of the grandest, if not oldest, capital of Ceylon. Tennent, Hardy, Dickson, and Burrows could not describe what they never saw-what is hidden. and well preserved fortunatelyunder a thick covering or a big mound of mother earth. Herein lies the great archæological interest of the region. All Europe and the rest of the civilised world have been full of interest over explorations in Asia Minor (the ruins of Troy), in Egypt, etc. The ancient ruins in Ceylon have hitherto been supposed to be well defined-if not sufficiently cleared. But the fact is there is room and reward for a number of explorers and excavators. We cannot expect the Ceylon Government to do more than touch the fringe of the work. We want a "Dr. Schlieman" to come to the rescue. Where is he to be found? And yet surely there is more than one ready, among the rich men of Europe and America, to take up the mission. Some of the wealthy but idle men of Europe, it may be, are longing for a chance of distinguishing themselves REMAINS OF THE OLD TEMPLE GATEWAY, DONDRA HEAD. From a Photograph by Barton. in a new line-of connecting their name and fortune with a work likely to excite, perhaps, a world-wide interest. How, then, are men of this type to be told about, and brought to, the North-Central Province of Ceylon? We turn for answer to our past Governors, Sir William Gregory and Sir Arthur Gordon, who yield to no Anglo-Ceylonese living in their interest in everything connected with Anuradhapura. Can they not excite enquiry on the part of "English Society," the literary and antiquarian members of the "Athenæum Club," or such clever leaders of thoughtful as well as wealthy circles as Lady Jeune-herself the granddaughter of a former governor of Ceylon; and also get the metropolitan press to notice the subject, with the possible result of a thoughtful English millionaire or wealthy savant being roused to devote his attention to our great buried city. and to the advantage of bringing its far-extending ruins into the full light of day? We trust so. SUCCESS OF THE IRRIGATION POLICY IN THE NORTH-CENTRAL PROVINCE AND HAMBANTOTA DISTRICT. Sixty years ago, as we are told in his memoirs, Major Skinner found the district of Nuwarakalawiya inaccessible save by tortuous, overgrown and almost impracticable native paths. When once he forced his way through from Arippu, "the world of stone pillars" was almost as great a revelation to him as to Robert Knox nearly two hundred years earlier. He found in parts of the district, too, a considerable population and corresponding cultivation; but in others the remnants of the people were visibly dying out from disease engendered by bad food and worse water. At that early date, the future great roadmaker tersely summed up the two great wants of the people in what is now the North-Central Province, as "roads" and "water." Is it not a disgrace to the British Government, asked the then young officer (Lieutenant rather than Major Skinner), that the rate of commutation for grain in this part of the country should be a penny a bushel, simply because there is no market for its disposal through want of a single road connecting the district with the rest of the island? Turning to the other side of the question, Lieutenant Skinner was equally confident in affirming that if "water, water," was only supplied to them, the people of Nuwarakalawiya could do anything. To turn now to the Nuwarakalawiya of more modern times, we have to consider the policy of Government of recent years and the present condition of the people and prospects of irrigation. Looking back, and wise after the event, we have long felt how unfortunate was the oversight on the part of the Government, the intelligent public, and especially the press, that, at the time the Kandy railway was completed, an ordinance was not passed to fund the traffic receipts entirely separate from the general revenue, and especially to devote all surplus profits-after meeting interest and sinking-fund contribution on debt-to railway extension. During our recent visit to Anuradhapura, we found it to be the centre of quite a network of admirable roads branching out in all directions. There is the road to Kurunegala, to Puttalam, to Mannar, to Jaffna, to Matale, to Trincomalee (besides a host of minor roads), alĺ intersecting, or meeting in, the North-Central Province, so that there are few of the remoter divisions of the island so well served with roads. Now, as regards irrigation works, we have ourselves to some extent to make a confession and retractation. Our attack, in the Royal Colonial Institute, on the policy which led the Ceylon Government to spend money on large tanks away from population, was based mainly on the case of Kantalay. We urged then, what we have never ceased since to urge, that not irrigation alone, but agriculture in all its departments, so far as suited for the natives, should receive the attention of the Government-that an AGRICULTURAL rather than "Irrigation" BOARD OF ADVICE should be created. To this opinion, as well as to the great advantage of early railway extension into the northern districts, we adhere; but in respect of the unwisdom of the expenditure, at the time it was incurred, of public revenue on such large irrigation restoration works as those of Tissamaharama and Kalawewa, we confess we have seen reason to modify, and indeed to alter, our opinion. We are now |