296 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



Senkadagala, took shelter with his kinsman the ruhng chief. Here 

 he played his last desperate card when he murdered his host and 

 tried to seize the power, but had once again to flee before the united 

 armies of the south, through Kalpitiya to Nellore, there to meet his 

 destiny. 



The approach to the Rahas Nuwara is through a tunnel formed 

 by an enormous boulder resting against the main rock. The inner 

 side of this is grooved above and contains a cave, while the top 

 of the rock is a strong fortlet, from which a handful of men could 

 block the passage of an army. It must have been through this 

 tunnel that the Portuguese made their dash in 1598, when they 

 surprised and killed the Mudaliyar in charge and committed the 

 place to the flames. 



Above the grooving of the cave runs an inscription. With some 

 trouble a rough ladder was constructed, and from there my clerk, 

 Mr. Moonemala, laboriously traced the writing, which runs as 

 follows : — 



" The cave of Parumaka Pusa, for the priests of the four quarters, 

 present and not present " is the translation of the learned Simon de 

 Silva Mudaliyar. Dewa is merely an honorific ; surely Pusa of 

 Muda Konda Pola is the same as Pusba of Ahas Lena a few miles 

 away ? 



The inscription is not copied to scale. 



Kurunegala, June 24, 1912. P. E. PIERIS. 



28. Some Dutch Medals : Plate I. — Obverse of medal contains 

 the inscription, the translation of which is as folloAvs : — This medal 

 was, in the year 1724, in the month of November, given by Joannes 

 Hertenberg, Governor and Director of the Island of Ceylon, as a 

 token of love and favour, on behalf of the Company, to Don Joan 

 Sirmewiratne Wijeje Wickreeme Tinnecon Modliaar, Gaisenaike, 

 Master of the Hunt and of the Sowing at Mature, and Superin- 

 tendent of Cattoene, Oedebocke, Kireme, the Girrewais, and 

 Baigams, to incite him more and more in his present good zeal in 

 the prosecution of the elephant hunt and rice culture and also 

 coffee cultivation. 



Plate II. — Reverse of the same medal shows within a shield the 

 usual type of armed vessel, while below are the Hortenberg arms. 



Arms. — A fcss — charged with three trefoils slipped and two 

 bendlets alternately, between a stag tripping in chief and three hills 

 in base. 



Crest.— A stag's head, as in the army. 



