484 Captain Crapman on the City of Anardjapura 
others in a dagoba opened by his orders ; but I have no means of ascertain- 
ing whether the dagobas opened by him were temples or tombs.* 
After having accompanied me to the several places enumerated, the priests 
conducted me through jungle to a spot, not far distant from the dagoba, which 
I believe to be Ruanwelli Sai. 1 there found two or three stones laid flat on 
the ground, in such manner as to form a kind of arch enclosing a small 
hole, which would not admit the hand of a man. The stones were grooved 
with slight mouldings, and the hole itself appeared as if much used by 
reptiles or snakes passing in and out. The priests informed me with much 
seriousness, and the appearance of great veneration, that this hole led to 
the “ hall of the cobra capeels,t which was situated at some distance.” I 
neglected to make any further memorandum on this subject ; but it is not 
the least curious coincidence that I find in the description of the building 
and dedication of Ruanwelli, as before given, that the young priest Sonut- 
TERA proceeded to the snakes’ world Manjereca to procure an eighth portion 
of ddtv, that it might be deposited in Rwanwelli dagoba; that he accom- 
plished his object, and returned to Purdopirewana. 
* According to Rosert Knox: “ The poorer kind, who regard not whether worms and 
maggots eat the dead, carry the body wrapped in a mat into the woods, and, with two or three 
attending, lay it in a hole without any ceremony, and cover it; but the better sort burn their 
dead, and that with ceremony. They wash the body, cover it with a white cloth, and place it 
in a hollowed tree, until the king’s orders are received: the body is then laid upon a bedstead 
(which is a great honour among them), and with the bedstead carried on men’s shoulders to some 
eminent place in the fields or highways; there they lay it upon a pile of wood some two or 
three feet high; then they pile up more wood upon the corpse lying on the bedstead or in the 
trough: over all, they have a kind of canopy built; if he be a person of very high quality, 
covered at top, hung about with painted cloths and bunches of coco-nuts and green boughs, and 
so put fire to it. After allis burnt to ashes, they sweep together the ashes into the manner of a 
sugar loaf, and hedge the place round from wild beasts breaking in, and they will sow herbs there. 
Thus I saw the king’s uncle, the chief tirinanx, who was as it were the chief primate of all the 
nation, burned upon a high place, that the blaze might be seen a great way.” 
Knox does not mention the ceremonial of the burial of the kings, but I have met with an 
account, that after the body is burnt, the bones are collected and formed into a shape resem- 
bling Bupp’Ha ; after which they are deposited in the dagoba. 
During our ramble, we stumbled upon one of the places of sepulture mentioned by Knox. 
It consisted of a mound of earth, on the top of which, ashes were sprinkled, and above the ashes 
were suspended pieces of string with several bits of white rag attached to them. The whole 
was enclosed by a rude fence, and the area kept free from weeds. 
+ It was thus pronounced by the priests. 
