SINHALESE EARTHENWARE. 139 
10. 
Swimming cranes,* flying lihine, fair kifiduro, and honey bees 
Great boas, fierce serpents not a few, sharks, tortoises, and golden 
peacocks, 
Beautiful damsels whose ever-swelling breasts are like growing 
golden swans, 
Nor does he forget to draw dear delightful children. 
tle 
Having drawn round it nari lata, iyawel, and also the letters of the 
alphabet with vowel signs, 
And inserting in the midst a trident with the signs 6m hrin as a 
talisman, 
Having well drawn in the four corners puttuy, peacock, cobra, swan, 
serpent. 
The signs of the Zodiac, the nine planets, and the twenty-seven 
asterisms. f 
12 
me 
For this) he takes good (red) gurugala and (white) makulu and mixes 
them with water to a thick consistency, 
Mingling them with the right amount of oil, that they may shine : 
Thereafter he sets them in the sun to dry them well, 
And after that having stocked them in the kiln, on the first day he 
dries them in the smoke. 
13. 
On the second day putting only a certain quantity of firewood he 
lights a moderate fire, 
On the third day he makes the fire strong enough, and fires (the 
pots) till they are done; . 
Afterwards he draws away § the fire and puts it out and leaves there 
three days for cooling, 
On the fourth day ascertaining that the kiln is quite cool, he takes 
out the vessels one by one. 
Before concluding these notes I make a few additions to and note 
a few errors in my former paper. 
Earthen vessels occasionally made, beside those mentioned, 
are spittoons (padikkam) and one-handled mugs (piikuru). 


* Tisaru, cranes (7); hansa I have translated as swans. 
| Puttuwa, a symmetrical arrangement of two, three, or four animals 
with necks entwined. 
{ The poem mentions a long list of decorations, some of which could hardly 
be found room for on an earthen vessel. All the work referred to is of the 
kind done before firing, and does not include painting, which (except slip 
painting) is no part of the potters’ art. 
§ The firewood is in the form of long sticks which are pushed in as they burnt 
away ; hence the expression ‘‘ to draw away the firewood’ when the fire is to 
‘be put out. 
