CuAP. I.] POLLANAREUA. 583 



natives as to distances in Ceylon, must always be taken 

 with caution ; for, unlike the peasantry of Scotland, 

 whose energy leads them to disregard toil and under- 

 estimate the ground to be travelled, a Singhalese, when 

 asked the way to the next \illage, generally adds to 

 instead of diminishing its remoteness. 



On the 15th we forded the Amban-ganga, in the 

 vicinity of Cottawelle, a Singhalese village partly in- 

 habited by Moors, where I halted for the day, in order 

 to hold one of those interviews with the people which, 

 as already explained, formed the special object of my 

 journey.^ 



The following morning, recrossing the Amban-ganga, 

 we rode through the forest to Topare, as Pollanarrua, 

 the mediaeval capital of Ceylon, is now called, probably 

 from a corruption of "Topa-weva," the name of the 

 beautiful tank on the margin of which the ruined city 

 stands. Its waters have long shrunk witliin a circum- 

 scribed area, and the grand embankment along which 

 we rode for some. miles now encloses a broad savannah, 

 beyond which, towering above the highest trees, we 

 discern the lofty dagobas and the summit of the great 

 temple. 



No scene can be conceived more impressive than 

 this beautiful city must have been in its pristine splen- 

 dour: its stately buildings stretching along the shore 

 of the lake, their gilded cupolas ^ rellected on its still 

 expanse and embowered in the dense fohage of the sur- 

 rounchng forests. At the present day it is by far the 

 most remarkable assemblage of ruins in Cevlt^n, not 

 alone from the number and dimensions, but from tlie 

 architectural superiority, of its buildings. 



Pollanarrua was a place of importance at a very early 

 period, so much so that the king, Sri Sangabo III., without 



' A detailed account of these meet- \ * Tlie Mahmmnso says that the 



inos ^^■ill be found in the papers laid enonnous domeof the IJankot Dajroha 



before Parliament, on tlie altairs of was covered witli ^ildiii^'-, by the 



Ceylon, a.d. 1840, p. 187. i Queen of Prakranm Palm. cli. Ix.xii. 



1- I- 4 



