SKIN OF LEOPARD SHOT NEAR THE REST-HOUSE, POLON 160 176 SIVA DEVALE, NO. I (COMMONLY CALLED DALADA MALI 177 ANANDA SORROWING FOR THE BUDDHA WHO HAS PASSED 225 ROCK-CUT FIGURE, POPULARLY CALLED PARAKRAMA 241 INTRODUCTION THE ruins of Egypt have been known for centuries, but it is only in comparatively recent years the ruins of Ceylon have been unearthed. Since then numbers have been attracted by these strange and beautiful specimens of architecture quite unlike anything found elsewhere. After the final victories of the Tamils, when the Cingalese kings were driven to their last stronghold, Kandy, which lies among the hills in the centre of the island, the jungle growth, so extraordinarily rapid in the moist atmosphere of Ceylon, sprang up in wave upon wave, engulfing in a vast green sea the sites of these ancient capitals. That such cities had existed had long been known, but knowledge of their whereabouts only remained as a tradition. In the early part of the nineteenth century an Englishman, Lieut. Fagan, came upon some of the ruins, and was immensely struck with them; he wrote an account in The Ceylon Gazette, Oct. 1820. The ruins were subsequently visited by one or another of the European officials in Ceylon, notably by Major Skinner on his road-making excursions in 1831, and subsequently. But it was not till 1871 that any steps were really taken to reclaim and preserve them. Then a series of fine photographs of both Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, as they then were, was taken by Mr. Lawton, and official attention to archæology in the island began. Two years later a survey of Anuradhapura was carried out, and measurements of the heights of the dagabas and other details of the ruined temples were made. In 1884-5 a good deal of investigation was done under Mr. S. M. Burrows, of the Ceylon Civil Service, who as office assistant to the Government Agent of the North Central Province was deputed to undertake this work. After this a series of "Sessional Papers" were issued from time to time describing progress, and in 1890 the first direct vote for archæological purposes was recorded. Mr. H. C. P. Bell, of the Ceylon Civil Service, who had already been doing some of the work, was appointed the first Archæological Commissioner. Mr. Bell began systematic work at Anuradhapura in the June of that year, and from that time Annual Reports recording the work were made, though, owing to lack of funds, or other causes, they sometimes appeared years after the date to which they referred. These Reports grew rapidly in bulk and completeness; all of them have a certain amount of illustration, and the later ones contain perfect galleries of photographic reproductions, and are most interesting and informative, giving an idea of the work in every stage. In the nature of the case, however, these Reports deal with all the ground covered in each year, and it is often necessary to trace the course of any particular excavation through many of them, to get a complete picture of it. The Reports are also, it must be remembered, official records, and contain a great deal which, though of the utmost value for reference, is tedious to the general reader, who can hardly be expected either, to carry about with him the vast bulk and weight of several of them, which would be necessary if he is to gather what is said about all the places visited. Mr. S. M. Burrows issued a little handbook to the ruins in 1905. This has since been reprinted, but it suffers from the common fault of an expert's work, it presupposes too much. It is quite impossible for a new-comer to gather from it where he is to find anything, and in arrangement it leaves much to be desired. Mr. Cave's Ruined Cities of Ceylon, issued in 1897, attracted some attention at the time it came out, because of its beautiful photogravures, but very much has been discovered since then, and the references to Polonnaruwa in particular are at the present date entirely inadequate. It has been felt, therefore, that on account of the quickly growing number of visitors to these beautiful cities," and also because of the intrinsic interest of the ancient history of the Cingalese, as illustrated by them, a book was imperatively required to collate and put in compact and readable form all that is known, so that it might be used either as a guide-book on the spot or be read by those unfortunate ones at home, whose travel is solely "in the mind." As for myself, I am merely an interpreter. I have to plead only a curiously intense interest in these relics; in homely words, "it all comes natural to me." The mighty monuments of Egypt left me cold, the many attractions of Burma amused and interested me superficially, in Ceylon from the first moment I was at home. Maybe in one of those previous lives, of which we sometimes have a shadowy notion, I lived there, and the |