GUIDE TO THE COLOMBO MUSEUM. 163 



from Berendi Kovil (Sitawaka) figured in the Archseological Com- 

 missioner's Report on the Kegalla District, 1890-1893. 



Near this pillar is exhibited a polished pillar of Ceylon gneiss 

 from the Mahara quarries, employed in the construction of the 

 Colombo Breakwater, presented by Mr. John Kyle. 



NORTH VERANDAH (Room B). 



Here will be found some Dutch and Portuguese tombstones — all 

 labelled with text and translations. A couple of carved Maldivian 

 tombstones in coralline limestone are also kept in this verandah, 

 and also capitals, guardstones, and other stone carvings from 

 Anuradhapura and elsewhere. There is a fine old carved Kandyan 

 door frame from Kumbukgama, presented by Mr. F. H. Price, and 

 also another ancient carved wooden door from Dewanagala in the 

 Kegalla District. The soHd wings of this door and the left jamb 

 of its frame were found among the lumber underneath the vihare. 

 There are ten plain panels enclosed by framework in high rehef carved 

 in a foliage scroll. The carvuig of the jamb is described as follows : 

 " Between an outer beading and inner splayed edge of lotus petals 

 runs a long narrow panel with gracefully intertwined double scroll 

 of creeper, separating four figures all different from each other. A 

 space half moulded, half panelled, in flower design, intervenes 

 between it and the base panel, m which is placed beside a tree an 

 elephant with head and right forefoot raised and curled trunk."* 

 (See Plate XVI.) 



CENTRAL HALL (Room C). 



The Central Hall, by which the visitor enters the Museum, 

 contains four cases of arms near the entrance and two cases ivories. 

 In the far right hand corner is a case containing a miscellaneous set 

 of things lent by Mr. Leslie de Saram. Suspended from the roof 

 are specimens of old Sinhalese flags. 



Arms (Cases 17, 18, 19, and 20). 



When the first Portuguese ships arrived off Colombo in 1505, it 

 is very probable that firearms, though known to a limited extent in 

 the Indian continent, were not in use among the Sinhalese. Their 

 arms were similar to those of most of the Indian races , and consisted 

 of short swords, spears and javelins, bows and arrows, and clubs. 

 The spears are well represented in the Museum , and are either hung 

 on the walls or occupy stands in the Central Hall. The heads are 

 as a rule richly inlaid with gold, silver, or copper, and the shafts 

 elaborately lacquered. The short javelins were especially used for 

 fighting with amidst forests and mountains, for the warfare of the 

 Sinhalese was largely guerilla. Their bows were six feet in length, 

 and were made of dunumadala , and were, like the spear shafts, 

 heavily lacquered. The bow strings were manufactured locally from 

 the tough fibre of the niyanda {Sanseviera zeylanica), and the arrows 

 of arecanut wood, frequently without any metal head. But it was 



H. C. P. Bell, Report on the Kegalla District, 1892, p. 49. 



