including some of Vishnu, always referred to by the monks as "god," and some showing the victorious Dutugemunu and dying Elala, the planting of the bo-tree and other scenes from the royal city; these are said to have been executed by monks from Anuradhapura. In this cave a vessel is placed to catch the clear water, which falls ceaselessly, drop by drop, throughout the year, even in the driest season, from one particular place in the roof.

The third temple, Maha Alut Vihara, or the "Great New Temple," is large also, and includes almost as many statues as the preceding one.

In making the tour of these temples it is well to be provided with plenty of small change, for though the priests of Buddha are not supposed to possess money or to accrete worldly goods in any form, they are not above eagerly indicating the collectionbox in every single cave visited. However, a very small piece dropped into one or two of the boxes satisfies them. The last two temples are small, and one of them, more modern than the rest, contains a statue of one of the latest Kandyan kings. The people in the village of Dambulla and around are nearly all Cingalese.

If we were going to Polonnaruwa, the later Cingalese capital, or to the great rock of Sigiri, we should, after Dambulla, turn off north-eastward on the Trincomalee road, but as these capitals can best be understood after a visit to Anuradhapura, it is wiser to go there first.

Continuing our way therefore, we run along a delightful road where handsome flowers may be noticed here and there in the jungle scrub; the most conspicuous is a creeper, which looks at a

distance like a vivid red honeysuckle, but on examination proves to be quite a different type. This is the Gloriosa superba, already mentioned, and fitly named, a royal plant, holding up a corona of frilled red tongue-like petals in the form of a cup. There are also bushes of wild hybiscus, showing white blossoms with splashes of purple in the centre, blossoms which burn bright pink as they fade. With the lantana, which appears by the roadside, is mingled a blue flower rather like lavender, forming an excellent contrast. Also very frequently to be noticed is a bush with snow-white leaves scattered irregularly amid the ordinary green ones; it is related to the poinsettia tribe. With all this decorative colouring, there is no lack of variety by the way.

If possible a détour should be made from Kekirawa, twelve miles from Dambulla, to visit Kala-Wewa, one of the large stand most important of the restored tanks of the ancient kings. This was made by King Dhatu Sena (A.D. 459), and will ever be associated with his touching plea to be allowed to bathe there once more before his death as already described on p. 26. There is a rest-house at Kekirawa, but any meal required should be ordered beforehand. Thence it is about five miles to the brink of the tank on foot, and a couple of miles further by road. The tank as originally made and planned was enormous, the water laving the foot of the rock at Dambulla. Though considerably curtailed now, having been ruined by the bursting or destruction of the embankment at some unknown date, it is still large, forming a sort of double or twin-tank, with a total area of about seven square miles. It receives the

water from the central hill country by means of channels, and in turn is connected with Anuradhapura by a winding canal, the Yoda-ela, or Giant's Canal, between fifty and sixty miles long, due also in its origin to King Dhatu Sena, who had magnificent ideas and carried them out worthily. The canal joins up the great Tissa tank at Anuradhapura, and incidentally, on its way, supplies several village tanks.

The restoration of the tank took three years, and it was reopened in 1888.

A few ruins of a very early settlement at Vijitapura can be seen en route to the tank, and two and a half miles north-west of the spill-wall is an interesting tall rock-carved figure of Buddha in what must once have been a temple, the Aukana Vihara. The great bund on the western side of the tank and the enormous spill-wall are worth examining, as they speak perhaps more eloquently of the power and value of the ancient irrigation work of the old kings, by which the great part of Ceylon was made cultivatable, than anything else. When the tanks fell into ruin, and irrigation was destroyed by the incursions of the Tamils, the jungle once more crept over the land, and its power to support a large population decreased correspondingly. It is only since the British took over the island that roads have been opened up, ancient tanks and channels restored, and the jungle cut down. This Vijitapura or Wijitapura has sometimes been identified with Wijito (see p. 22), besieged by Dutugemunu, but beyond the name there seems no evidence of this, and good authorities discredit it.

CHAPTER III

THE BEAUTIFUL CITY OF ANURADHAPURA

It is difficult to do justice to the beauty of Anuradhapura; it combines so much not usually found in an eastern town. The wide park-like spaces of short grass are shaded by the beautiful spreading "rain-trees," so-called because their leaves fold together at night, and, opening in the morning, drop dew on the heads of those who pass below. The grass is studded with ruins, showing many a specimen of exquisite carving in granite, fresh as the day it was done, possibly 2,000 years ago. The three mighty dagabas, Ruanweli, Abhayagiri, and Jetawanarama, with their treegrown summits-great mounds of millions and millions of bricks-can at some points be seen all at once; while the glimmering of the blue or sunset-dyed water of Tissa Wewa or Basawak Kulam seen through the trees adds distance and mystery to many a view. Kulam is the word for tank in Tamil, as wewa is in Cingalese, and wapi or vapi in Pali or Sanskrit. Further north, where the people are almost all Tamils, the word kulam is generally used.

Many people "do" Anuradhapura in a day