through the ruined Lion Staircase House to the foot of the iron ladders, had been made good.

"The curved and front line of wall represents the position once held by the paws of the colossal brick-work figure of the lion, whose plaster-coated claws still rest on the bay, clutching as it were, between them, the staircase, which mounted between the beast's paws and up through his body to the ladders." (1909 Report.)

The remarkable cleverness of the ancient engineering feat may be gauged by the fact that the men responsible for it actually gained the summit in winding fashion at the only place where it did not overhang, but left a possible entrance.

After the Lion Staircase House the steps change to narrow iron ladders with wide treads, but quite easy, and then the way turns north-east across the face of the vast rock, by a series of foot-holes cut almost horizontally, but with a slight ascent. Elderly or timid people or those who cannot stand heights might hesitate here, but the stout iron rail continues all the way, and gives confidence to those who attempt the feat. One last flight of ladders is scaled before reaching the top. The illustration (p. 160) is taken from the north and shows the Lion Staircase House. It is a telephotograph of the Ceylon Archæological Survey.

The whole summit is covered with ruins; granite steps and broken red brick walls marking terraces, passages, or apartments. All are on different levels, and the tall grass growing rankly, soon covers up what has been excavated, and makes any attempt to trace out the ground-plan difficult.

"A mere plan of the excavation on the summit of Sigiri-gala must entirely fail to bring out the rise and fall of the several terraces, and particularly the strikingly sudden drop from the higher level area on the west to the open courtyards, etc., north and south of the central pokuna."

This grass is full of tiny sharp" spears," and it is best to wear boots while ploughing through it. To find the gal asanaya, the celebrated granite throne, discovered in 1895, keep along the eastern side, where it can easily be discovered facing full towards the rising sun.

In my rambling round the top I was lucky enough to come upon a gentleman of the country, lightly clad, who was willing to stand and give scale to the objects taken. My Madrassi "boy" boy" eagerly volunteered the information, "He very respectable gentleman, in his own home he dress in many clothes, here he in his holiday clothes." I felt it in my heart to envy him!

The simplicity of the throne is very attractive; the pink granite is worked in strong plain outlines without ornament of any kind, and its simple grandeur suits the altitude and the far-reaching sweep of the view before it.

From this point the limits of the outer city can be traced on the ground-level far below, and the tank or lake is well seen. The place is practically dead, but we can picture in the bygone time the busy hive of workers, the artificers, masons, carpenters, swarming up from their huts like ants about their work, to the towering heights where the king lived in that gold-wrought, silk-clad

luxury described in the Mahawansa. The comings and goings of these men in obedience to the royal orders and commands, the constant changing of the soldiers and ministers, and the arrival of the tax-collectors with their money, would make a never-ceasing stream of ascents and descents along the winding levels of the marvellous rock. There, high above all, on his rose-coloured throne, sat Kasyapa, administering justice while he carried the black spot of death in his heart; we cannot believe his judgments erred on the side of mercy!

Always, from the heights looking out over that tangled sea, where the jungle-fowl call and the incessant "poop, poop" of the woodpecker arose then as now, the King would watch for the glitter of spears and the crash of an oncoming army breaking its way through all impediments to bring down vengeance on his guilty head.

And it came! Whether, weary of his stately self-imposed imprisonment, Kasyapa recklessly descended from his fortress to meet his brother, or whether, lulled by the security of his eighteen years of power (just as long as his father had reigned), he began to lose his fears, and was caught off the alert, we do not know. But the Mahawansa tells us that he did face his elder brother Moggallana in the plains not far from Kurunegala, where the "two armies met like two seas that had burst their bounds." A fierce conflict ensued, and when Kasyapa saw that he was getting the worst of it he cut his throat, a not uncommon means by which the vanquished escaped the indignity of being made prisoner.

Moggallana therefore became king. He estab

lished himself at Anuradhapura, and Sigiriya fell into decay. It is associated only with the reign of one king. For all his delay in revenging his father's death, Moggallana was not a cold-blooded man; it is said that when he saw those who had followed the slayer of his father, the sight drove him into such a red rage that he gnashed his teeth furiously, so that one hereafter protruded and he acquired the name of Rakkhasa, meaning the demon. There has been a great deal of discussion over the interpretation of this passage; Mr. Wijesinha supposes it to be an allusion to the curved teeth or tusks that demons are popularly supposed to possess.

Passing from the granite throne southward, we come to the great tank on the summit, which supplied the water to the population living there; this is quite a fair-sized piece of water even now, though choked up by reeds, and when kept clean must have provided an abundant storage replenished by the torrential monsoon rains.

We can wander round the whole summit, noting the backbone of passage in the centre, with byways starting from it on each side like ribs.

When we finally descend, by the same road we came up, we can visit below the flat rock called the Audience Hall, near the Cistern Rock, and in between the two, underneath the latter, see an odd little cave-shrine.

The place is a perfect fairyland; bushes with fern-like fronds waist and shoulder high complete an illusion of bracken-covered ground, and amidst them rise other bushes and shrubs completely covered with small orange-coloured fruit (Limonia

alata) growing amid shining green laurel-like leaves; there are great white trumpet-shaped flowers (Datura fastuosa) and the Cassia fistula with its yellow bunches like giant laburnum. The ground is carpeted by a sensitive plant with tiny pink spiky flowers. Huge lumps of rock are flung anyhow amid green bowering foliage. Great trees have grown in some instances on the bare summits, and encompassed the sides in a network of scaly roots which stream downwards to seek sustenance in the ground. As I stood drinking in all the wonderful detail, a bird, like none that I had ever seen before, sprang into sight, chasing a brilliant-hued butterfly; it had a long forked tail, and its radiance reminded me of the monk's story in The Golden Legend.

And lo! he heard

The sudden singing of a bird,

A snow-white bird, that from a cloud
Dropped down."

"This species is called the Ceylon Bird of Paradise, but is really a kind of long-tailed flycatcher. There is a similar bird, only terra-cotta in hue, which is rather more common. The Cingalese call them Redi-hora, meaning cloth-stealer, for as the tail is five times longer than the body, it looks as if the bird were flying away with a long piece of cloth."

It is a famous shooting country all round here, bears and leopards, sambhur (elk) and many other large animals range in the depths of the jungle, but we shall hear more of these at Polon

naruwa.

1 Eleven Years in Ceylon, by Major Forbes. (Bentley. 1841).