Two happy years in Ceylon . full height having been about405 feet {, fifty feet higher than St. Pauls) and its circumference1,130 feet ! Its height is now considerably reduced, but the squareplatform on which it stands still covers an area of eight acres ! Andaround it are the ruins of various chapels and other buildings con-nected with a great college of priests; and among the ruins are manyfinely sculptured stones, a gigantic seven-headed cobra, and sundryflowers and figures. All this was the work of King Walagambahu,who thus {v:C. 89) commemorated the expulsion of the Malabar in-vaders
Two happy years in Ceylon . full height having been about405 feet {, fifty feet higher than St. Pauls) and its circumference1,130 feet ! Its height is now considerably reduced, but the squareplatform on which it stands still covers an area of eight acres ! Andaround it are the ruins of various chapels and other buildings con-nected with a great college of priests; and among the ruins are manyfinely sculptured stones, a gigantic seven-headed cobra, and sundryflowers and figures. All this was the work of King Walagambahu,who thus {v:C. 89) commemorated the expulsion of the Malabar in-vaders and his own recovery of the throne. A few years ago the Government explorers tunnelled right intothe heart of this huge Fortress of Safety, through 200 feet of solidbrickwork, because of a tradition that therein were buried very ancientbooks inscribed on metal plates. But on reaching the jealouslyguarded secret chamber, nothing whatever was found save a fewbeads, of no value beyond that due to their antiquity. The prisoners. ANURADHAPURA 271 who were employed on this work of excavation, and on tlic restorationof the summit tower, have left rude steps along the side of the brick-work by which it is now possible to ascend to a height of 231 feetabove the i)latform—Z.^., 549 feet above sea-level—which, amid suchvery level surroundings, secures a wide-spread view in every directionover the wide expanse of park, land, and forest, dotted with the hugemonuments of olden days, glimpses of stone pillars, and of glisteninglakes and tanks, and bounded on the one side by the blue Ritigalaand Matele hills, and on the other by Mihintale, the sacred mountain,so rich in ruins and in legends. I found another fascinating spot for a very comprehensive sketch—seated beneath an overhanging tree whose roots were all entwinedwith a flight of beautifully sculptured steps, quaint animals, and othercarved stones, which, with a couple of dark miniature dagobas to theleft, formed an effective foregr
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectsrilank, bookyear1901
