470 Captain Cuapuan on the City of Anardjapura 
And, finally, Captain Mauony observes :*—* This is the tree the Siamese 
call Prasi Maha Pout: it is held alike sacred by them and the Singalais. 
It was against this tree that Buooppua leaned, when he first took upon 
himself his divine character. A branch of the original tree is said to have 
been brought to Cey/on in a miraculous manner, and planted at Annooradhe- 
pooreh Noowereh, where to this day a tree of that description is worshipped.” 
Frequent mention is made of these sacred trees throughout the three his- 
tories, from which extracts might be increased to any extent; but I trust 
the foregoing will suffice to prove the striking coincidence between the in- 
formation procured on the spot and that contained in these records, as well 
as the importance attached to the trees themselves. 
2. The Lowd-Maha-Péya, or the Temple or Choultry of the 
Thousand Pillars. 
At a few paces to the eastward of the enclosure which contains the 
Bogahas, are the ruins of the Thousand Pillars.t These ruins consisted 
originally of sixteen hundred pillars, disposed in a square, having forty on 
each side and in each row, and all nearly equi-distant from each other. 
The greater part of these pillars are still standing: they consist, with few 
exceptions, of a single piece of gneiss in the rough state in which it was 
quarried, are from ten to twelve feet above ground, twelve inches by eight 
square, and about four feet from each other. The pillars at each angle, and 
the two in the centre of the outer line, differ from the rest in being of hard 
blue granite, and in having been more carefully finished. I was subse- 
quently informed by Captain Forses, of the 78th regiment, that those of 
the square which has eight on each side are rudely sculptured, and that 
those of the square which has seven are carved, and have grooves on their 
summits. The greater part of these pillars still retain the marks of the 
holes which were made to break them from the quarry ; and I was not a 
little surprised to learn from the Mideliér that it was done by means of 
wooden pegs which were driven into the holes ; that water was then poured 
over them, and swelling the pegs, broke the portions between the holes, 
andthus severed the stone.t The pillars were stated to have been covered 
_ * Vide Asiatic Researches, vol. vii. p- 45, note +t. + See Plate, No. 16. 
¢ The same process is followed in Aberdeen, and was brought into practice, I believe, 
within the last thirty years. 
