and the Hill Temple of Mehentélé. 479 
of the said girdle, which piece he kept, but the rest the gods pulled up to 
heaven. ‘The king made an offering to the said piece of Boopxoo’s girdle, 
he also made a dawgob for the same, forty cubits in height; and having 
reigned twenty-four years, he died and went to heaven. And thus, from 
the king Wiceya Rasau, there were sixty-three kings, all of untainted 
royal blood: and at this time, Boopuoo had been dead eight hundred and 
forty-four years nine months and twenty-five days. But know this, that with 
Manasin Ragan ended the royal unadulterated blood. The kings who 
followed were of mixed blood; and because there were no longer to be 
found the Rahatoonancies who could fly to heaven when they pleased, and 
because the god Sacra Dewarnpra left off to regard Ceylon, and because 
piety had disappeared, and because the city of Anarawdapoora was left in 
ruins, and because the fertility of the land was decreased, the kings who 
followed are no longer of such consequence as before.” Réjavali, p. 237. 
The last of the dagobas remains to be noticed ; but although I feel fully 
convinced that it is Ruanwelli Sai, the circumstance of my memoranda 
having been effaced, prevents my being certain ; I shall therefore refrain from 
making any remark under this conviction, or from entering into the grounds 
upon which it is founded, but confine myself to a few extracts, to show the 
ceremonial attending the construction and dedication of these buildings and 
their nature and object. A very detailed account * of the building and 
dedication (if I may employ the term) of Ruanwelli Sai, is given in the 
Mahavansi; (by which it appears “ that it had been predicted that the great 
son of Dewarney Parisse should build a dagobah of a hundred and twenty 
cubits under that name.”) That the king went in great pomp to mark out 
the ground, which was done by the priest; and that the king then laid 
the foundation. ‘ He placed eight golden and eight silver vessels, with 
many other full vessels surrounding the same; he caused to be placed 
there eight bricks made of gold, surrounding each with a quantity of 
bricks made of silver, and the solitary man Suppratesta Camoona laid 
a heap of perfumes on the solemn brick, when the chief priest Soomana 
solemnized the offering of flowers, and instantly it came to pass that 
a tremor of the earth took place.’+ Bricks were then made by the 
* In consequence of the length of the description, I have been obliged to condense it. 
+ The coincidence between the laying of the foundation with bricks of gold and silver, and the 
modern practice of depositing coins, must strike every one. 
