. Ceylon : an account of the island, physical, historical, and topographical with notices of its natural history, antiquities and productions. Natural history -- Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka. Chap. T.] ' FORT OF HIGIRI. 579 The story lias been already tukP of the parricide king Kasyapa, who, in the fifth centiirj^ obtained the throne of Ceylon by the murder of his father Dhatu Sena, and Avho subsequently retired to the inaccessible fort of Sigiri. This extraordinary natural stronghold is situated in the heart of the great central forest, about fifteen miles north-east of Dambool. At Enamalua we left t
. Ceylon : an account of the island, physical, historical, and topographical with notices of its natural history, antiquities and productions. Natural history -- Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka. Chap. T.] ' FORT OF HIGIRI. 579 The story lias been already tukP of the parricide king Kasyapa, who, in the fifth centiirj^ obtained the throne of Ceylon by the murder of his father Dhatu Sena, and Avho subsequently retired to the inaccessible fort of Sigiri. This extraordinary natural stronghold is situated in the heart of the great central forest, about fifteen miles north-east of Dambool. At Enamalua we left the highway to wind under the shade of the thick woods, by narrow tracks and jungle paths, until we reached the beautiful tank above Avhich this gigantic cyUndrical rock starts upwards to a height prodigious in comparison with the size of its section at any point, the area of its upper surface being very Httle more than an acre in extent. Its scarped walls are nearly perpen- dicular, and in some places they overhang then- base. The formation of this singular cHif can only be ascribed to its upheaval by a subterranean force, so circumscribed in action that its effects Avere confined within a very few yards, yet so irresistible as to have shot aloft this prodigious pencil of stone to the height of nearly four hundred FORTIFIED ROCK OF SIGIRI. The 3Jahaica?iso imniitely describes the measures taken by Kasyapa, after the assassination of the king his father, whom he caused to be " built up in a wall, embedding ^ See Vol. I., Pt. ur. ch. ix.; , ch. xxxviii. p. "2^)9. p p 2. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Tennent, James Emerson, Sir, 1804-1869. London : Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts
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Keywords: ., bookauthort, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectsrilanka
