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time had come, and he was killed by a lucky shot from the forest officer, who happened to be in the district.

The excitement of big game episodes does not, however, end with elephants; Mr. Jayasekera, of the Archæological Survey, recently shot a large fat leopard within half a mile of the rest-house. The skin measured eight feet from nose to tip of tail, the tail being three feet. The illustration shows him with his trophy, and behind him his tracker with a canoe-paddle, on the verandah of the rest-house.

It was due to Mr. Jayasekera that I was enabled to see a family of wild buffalo at large. He took me in a dug-out canoe, with outrigger, across Topa Wewa one day, and we were lucky enough to see at fairly close quarters a remarkably fine group of wild buffalo. We saw only the cow first, standing on a bluff, then made out a darkcoloured calf beside her. We manoeuvred the canoe so as to run into a creek as near as possible compatible with safety, and just as we had landed a magnificent bull rose up from the high sedge, where he had been lying at the side of his mate. He was a splendid creature with spreading horns, entirely different in his fine proportions from the pig-like domestic water buffalo. I deeply regretted not having brought my camera, especially as a further turn revealed a very young mouse-coloured calf lying beside the other. We walked to within fifty yards of the group, and then deemed it wiser to go on, as we were not out after big game that day.

The lake is usually spangled by white birds and a flight of pelicans is not unusual. Cormorants sit

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SKIN OF LEOPARD SHOT NEAR THE REST-HOUSE,

POLONNARUWA.

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all day in the outlying rocks, and the water abounds in crocodiles. There are plenty of lulla in the lake, a fish with firm flesh which makes good eating, also many other species, some quite large.

The wet season at Polonnaruwa is usually from October to the end of December, and at this season it is easier for sportsmen to find deer to shoot, but the roads are also often rendered impassable at the same time, and inquiry must be made beforehand as to whether they can be traversed at all.

The popularity of Polonnaruwa increases yearly, and only the difficulty of reaching it without a motor-car prevents its being inundated with visitors. The beauty of its scenery, the chances of sport, and the fascination of its amazing antiquities present a variety of attractions difficult to resist, and sufficient to ensure great efforts being made to overcome the obstacles to their attainment.

CHAPTER XIII

THE EPIC OF PARAKRAMA

POLONNARUWA differs from the older city in that its extent is accurately known, the line of its walls has been traced, and even in some places the walls themselves laid bare. More interesting still, the building, considered now, without much doubt, to have been the chief or central royal palace, is still standing.

The city ruins lie almost in one straight line running north and south, and are reached either from the road, which passes beside them, or by means of excellent little paths, cut and kept in order by the Archæological Survey. The authorities are not here hampered by the dilatoriness and slackness of the Buddhists, as none of the sacred sites are in their hands, but all under government supervision and control. Their preservation can therefore be carried out in the best possible way without obstacles.

At the south end of the ruins is the Potgul monastery and the great rock-cut statue popularly known as that of Parakrama, and at the other the latest recovered temple, that of Demala-maha-seya. The rest-house itself and some of the ruins near it lie a little outward to the west, as do also the remains dug out of the bed

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