which must have much detracted from their dignity. The image is in the style common in Ceylon, with the hands within one another on the lap, palms upward. The throne, or pedestal, is carved. The figure itself is about fifteen feet high, and the features are rather unlike most of the Buddha images in expression, being more harsh and severe than those usually represented.

CHAPTER XVII

A FLOWER IN STONE

It was only a comparatively few years ago that a member of the Archæological Society, working in the jungle, came upon a number of curved hewn stones. Investigation showed others buried in soil and débris, and when they were uncovered the most curious and perfect bath was revealed. It was formed of rings of curved stone, one within the other, descending to the bath in the centre. Among the meritorious works of Parakrama the Great it is mentioned in the Mahawansa that he made many baths for the monks "so that they might bathe themselves freely in water during the time of great drought." Among these was the Lotus Bath. There can be little doubt that this newly discovered specimen was of the "lotusbath" pattern, and once more the truth and accuracy of the chronicles was proved. It is not easy to get at this curious architectural feat, for it lies in the jungle four miles from the rest-house, and eight miles' walking is not to be lightly undertaken in that climate. Moreover, the greater part of the way is over paths, or tracks, not easy to find, and not even a bullock-cart is procurable in this back-of-beyond.

I had determined not to leave Polonnaruwa

without seeing the Lotus Bath, and if possible getting a photograph of it, for it is hardly ever seen reproduced. Luck was against me. The October monsoon had not fulfilled expectations, and at the break of the year was making up for it. Persistent importunity procured a walking bullock-cart from somewhere, and it was to be ready at 6 a.m. on the last morning of my stay. All that night the rain came down in waterspouts, nor did it cease with daylight; it poured down in solid chunks till midday. Then it paused sullenly, as if ready to start again at any moment, and though midday is not the hour one would select for an expedition in Ceylon, I determined to seize the chance, as the greyness of the day made it feasible.

The carts of Ceylon are on a different model from those of India. The palm-leaf thatch, which covers the tilt, extends outwards at an angle back and front, so as to form a very effective screen over the driver's head and the interior of the cart. It renders it impossible, however, for any one sitting inside to see any view except directly backwards and forwards. A mattress had been put in the floor of the cart for my accommodation, and on this I reclined as gracefully as circumstances permitted. It seemed to me the bullock required more physical energy on the part of the driver to make it move at all than would have sufficed to pull the cart.

We soon left the road and followed a path where the low boughs swept across the palm-leaf tilt with a noise like thunder, making speech impossible.

The native tracker stalked ahead, a magnificent figure of a man, with fine carriage and alert head, and bare brown shoulders gleaming with moisture. To complete the weird unreality of the whole thing he carried a gun under one arm and an umbrella under the other! The gun was a necessary precaution, for there are wild elephants in this district and it might be needful to scare them away.

There were pools of water lying in the squashy soil of the track, and the knotted roots of the innumerable species of ficus made humps and tendons, that it was a work of difficulty to surmount with the clumsy wheels, and the most reluctant bullock grew even more reluctant as his home was left further behind.

At length he came to a dead stop, and no persuasion sufficed to make him alter his mind. We had to get out and walk. The tracker led the way, and pointed with pride to the plentiful signs that a large herd of elephants must have passed very shortly before. After following the cut path for some way, he swerved aside on to a tiny foot-track wavering through the thickly growing bushes. Boughs switched in my face as I followed, and large spiders' webs made themselves felt unpleasantly. There was something mysterious in the air, as if we were bound to preserve complete silence in this descent or suffer some hideous penalty.

Quite suddenly, lying in a green basin, cut out of the solid jungle growth, I saw IT!

A wonder in stone, a flower petrified and preserved for immortality!

The rain had ceased, the sky was sullen, the

shadow of the surrounding vegetation fell heavily in the glen; but at that moment a pale gleam of sunlight glanced upon the stone like a phosphorescent finger, and brought out the warmth that lay in those shapely granite blocks. It is a strange feature of Cingalese stone-work that it always seems alive. The workmen had some curious power of vitalising that which their hands wrought. In contrast with the awesome but stern dead temples and statues of Egypt, the temples and statues of Ceylon seem radiantly alive. And that unexpected pencil of light brought out this quality in the granite flower. The stone-work measures 24 feet 9 inches across the top, and drops to a depth of 4 feet 6 inches, in diminishing rings, each forming a step, until it reaches the heart-the bath proper-5 feet 4 inches across. At the time I saw it this was filled with weed.

In that confined space it is difficult to get a photograph, and, owing to the dip in the middle of the bath, one should be above and a little away from it. The trees around, luckily, afforded foothold, and by the aid of one of them the desire of my heart was achieved (see p. 240).

Mr. Bell says:

"The artistic conception of this beautiful bath is worthy of all praise. Imagine a gigantic lotus-flower of granite, full-blown, 24 feet 9 inches in diameter, with five concentric lamina of eight petals, gradually diminishing to a stamen. Then decide to reverse nature's order, and instead of a convex shape depress the petal rings into a concavity... and we have the granite bath as it exists in all its shapeliness to this day." (1909 Report.)