86 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



Bena Samanala ; but none of them have been occupied. I must 

 have examined scores, some of them very suitable for building up. 



I followed the maiia stream to its source, worked along the ridge, 

 and broke back through the bamboo, but found nothing. The 

 undergrowth is very thick indeed, and is composed of tough wiry 

 bamboo. Except where there are elephant paths, it is hard to make 

 one's way. Altogether, exploring this valley, five days were spent 

 in vain, "t- ; 



The last place, the bed of the stream on the heights above the first 

 ambalam on the Maskeliya-para, was nothing but a series of enor- 

 mpus slab rocks and waterfalls ; stretches of rock 50 yards square 

 rose in terraces, divided one from another by broad waterfalls some 

 20 ft. high. These are where the princesses of old used to bathe. 

 This legend possibly refers to the Veddas. After leaving this place 

 I was told by an old Sinhalese man that there is a stone ruin in the 

 jungle there and a cave with an inscription. My guide knew nothing 

 of it. 



There still remains to be explored the Kehelgama-para and the 

 Erane-para. I am told, both by Englishmen resident in the neigh- 

 bourhood and by natives, that the former of these contains both 

 ruins and inscriptions. 



