sluicing of the monsoon rains, and the oblation can in no way injure it. In low tones, so as not to disturb the religious ceremony, my guide, himself a Buddhist, explained that these people were pilgrims; they lived in Colombo, and had gone by rail to Anuradhapura, and thence walked the sixty-five miles in order to visit the sacred shrines of Polonnaruwa. They will not travel in a bullock-cart, for it would be loss of merit so to use animal labour; they had even refused his own offer to send their bundles back by cart; they would spare themselves no whit of the toil. The Gal Vihara is frequently visited by such pilgrims, but the majority come in April or May, and many wealthy people use their own cars, thus solving the problem of transit to the satisfaction of their consciences.

As

This family used no such subterfuges. they turned away, having completed their service, I met them, and was struck by the dignified bearing and fine face of the leader, who might have stood for the reincarnation of some Druid priest. Having made their simple breakfast in the cave shrine, they passed on to other sacred places in the city, and slept that night in the open, by which they must have acquired abundant "merit," for the weather was uncertain, and it rained all night. Yet when I saw them again next morning, as they were just starting on their sixty-five-mile walk, they were as clean and neat as on the preceding day.

Between the figure of Ananda and the caveshrine is a large sloping piece of rock, smoothed and inscribed in order that the duties of monks

and the rules prescribed for their conduct might be fully set forth. The present little cave-shrine is only a remnant of what once was a large monastery, the ruins of which may be traced far to the front. In the corners of the shrine a little of the old fresco painting can still be seen preserved by wire-netting. The central figure is itself enclosed in a sort of "meat-safe" of similar netting to save it from the well-meant but destructive attentions of pilgrims, who like to attach their little wax candles to it by their own grease. Something of the "meat-safe" resemblance must have been on the mind of the American visitor, who observed on seeing it, "I've read a good deal about the fierceness of your mosquitoes in this country, but that beats all I imagined. If you have to protect your stone images against them with wire curtains, they must be the very dickens ! "

The Buddha is backed and surrounded by carvings of figures of singular richness, and it is not difficult to believe this was intended to represent "the cave of the spirits of knowledge." The further sedent Buddha on the rock westward does not usually impress visitors as being very interesting, but it is well worth while to examine the carving around it. It rests in a recess of the rock from which it has been cut, so that the rock-face projects like a screen on each side, somewhat after the manner of the rock-cut figures at Abu-Simbel, Egypt, though of course on a tiny scale in comparison. The Egyptians allowed their grand figures to face full daylight, open to the infinite canopy of heaven, while these figures of Ceylon, now uncovered, were once shut in by shrines,

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.