tended and unnoticed, but this account, though correct enough in its description of things actually seen, is not to be relied upon in matters of history or deduction. One of the features of the carving is a dado of dancers and musicians with very spirited figures-"a veritable cinematograph in granite of the most vivid and entrancing character."

To describe the staircase in untechnical language, it consists of two flights one above the other, broken by a small landing, and flanked by heavy walls, or wings, not in the least like anything to which Western eyes are accustomed. These walls rise in a series of vertical panels facing downwards. The panels are capped by canopies which thus rise one above the other, giving an effect of extraordinary richness. The lowest of all is divided into two storeys, or two panels, the uppermost of which is the smaller, and is decorated by a gracefully carved figure of a female, holding a bowl of flowers, a very curious change from the ordinary guard-stone, unless, indeed, we are to accept as its representative the tiny fat dwarf on the ground on each side at the very foot of the stairs. There are other decorative figures to be noticed higher up, and about half way, resting on one of the facing walls, are the boldly sculptured lions with their grinning faces turned a little inward toward each other.

The whole staircase, with the broken effect of the "stepped" walls or vertical panels, whichever we like to call them, the delicately carved figures, the grimacing lions, forms an extraordinary jumble of rich detail.

At the top is the splendid arch leading to the

palace precincts flanked by two stone windows under heavily carved toranas. These two windows were once filled with pierced stone-work of a most curious kind. When Mr. Bailey visited the place, one, the western, was still here, but the eastern. was broken to pieces, except for a few scraps. The perfect window has since been removed to the Colombo Museum. It seems a pity that it cannot be replaced. It is one huge slab of stone, 7 inches thick and 4 feet 7 inches by 3 feet 3 inches in size. It is cut into forty-five rings, or circles, and in each circle is a figure either human or animal, with that individual difference which is such a charm in artistic work. From the row of sacred geese in the top row to the large paunched dwarfs at the bottom row the work is perfect and complete. For this alone Yapahuwa should be remembered.

Once through the porch, which is finely built and proportioned, we face desolation. High on one side rises the bare cliff face, in front is a tangled mass of stones and shrubs. There is nothing left which can conjure up the palace once standing here, except its magnificently planned approach. In fact, the palace was never completed. The time of Bhuwaneka's troubled rule was not long enough. His conception was certainly royal, if we may judge from what was done, but by the time the staircases and façade had been made, gloom and famine had descended on the land; neither funds nor labour permitted of its being continued.

It is possible to continue to the summit of the rock by a rough track, helped out by a few steps here and there, but there is little more to see. A

few caves, a few stone ruins, a pokuna about half an acre in extent, these alone remain to tell of the presence of bygone life.

The vision we carry away from Yapahuwa is of an unfulfilled conception. If only the Pandyans had stayed at home another twenty years we might have had a specimen of a fourteenthcentury palace of unrivalled splendour standing on its isolated terrace beneath the steep rock.

So far as concerns the object with which this book is written the tale is done. We have traced the capitals of the kings of Ceylon from their earliest foundation in the sacred city of Anuradhapura, through the brief interlude of Sigiri, and on to the scarcely less interesting city of Polonnaruwa. We have seen the attempt made to retrieve the glory of the kings by these buildings on Yapahuwa and its frustration. Of the other seats of royalty - they can hardly be called capitals-where the dispossessed kings ruled from time to time until they could recover their ground, there is little to see. These range from Dambadeniya in the thirteenth century, Kurunegala in the fourteenth, Gampola also fourteenth, Cotta in the fifteenth. Then we come to Kandy, which was the capital from 1592-1798.

But Kandy has been written about in a score of guide-books, and of it there is nothing new to tell.

Earlier even than Anuradhapura is the very ancient capital Magama (Tissamaharama), but this is in the extreme south of the island. It is visited by pilgrims, but not many Europeans will go so far out of the beaten track. Those who wish for "more," had better rather go afield to such

places as Nalanda, half-way between Matalé and Dambulla, which, though never a capital, was the headquarters of Parakrama the Great when he made war on his uncle, King Gaja Bahu, in Polonnaruwa. Here the mighty warrior built a fortress, and here there is a ruined shrine called Gedi-gé, dating from the eleventh century, which possesses some features of interest and is described in the 1910-11 Report. Or to Medigiriya, with its Wata-dagé adorned with many pillars and a "Buddhist-railing" wall, and nine Buddhas of different sizes.

Even then the chance visitor to Ceylon will have gained but a very small idea of the vast number of ruins scattered over the northern part of the island, and of the incredible patience and pertinacity of the Survey Authorities in hunting them out, unearthing them, and making them accessible. The circuit sections of the reports hardly mention the days of soaking rain, the nights spent in leaking huts, the difficulties of crossing unbridged rivers and tearing or cutting through jungle thorns, to say nothing of plagues of insects, chances of fever, and dangers from wild animals, but to those who know Ceylon these are "taken as read." Of the work accomplished, the innumerable inscriptions unearthed and deciphered, the splendid carvings saved and replaced, the contribution to and illustration of the ancient history of the island, no praise can be too high. Thus, and only thus, have we been enabled to visit these old Cingalese sovereigns in their royalty, to see visions of the fair towns with broad streets, of the images of silver and gold, of

the brick and granite palaces in their prosperity, to gain ideas of their constant fighting and strange methods of warfare and provisioning their armies, of their personalities and characteristics from the: days of Dutugemunu B.C. to the days of his great successor Parakrama, who, in many respects, resembled him in history and prowess, in the twelfth century A.D. With Parakrama the Cingalese reached their last high-water mark; from thence they waned, and the days of the Kandyan. kings mark the low-water mark of depravity and cruelty so far as royalty was concerned.

Note. These distances are in many cases taken from the motor-tour prospectus of Messrs. Walker, Sons & Co., Ltd., Ceylon.

to Habarane
to Kandy

15

55

43