Chap. II.] LAKE OF MINKRY. 601 



tate king, Malia Sen, wlio, ni the third century before 

 Christ \ temporarily abjured the rehgion of Buddlia, 

 persecuted its priests, and overthrew its temples and 

 statues. But having subsequently recanted his errors, 

 he sought to atone for his sacrilege by restoring the 

 monuments of " the Vanquisher," and conciliated his 

 outraged subjects by the construction of works of utility.^ 

 Amongst the latter was the Lake of Minery, or Jlinihin, 

 whicli, as the native chronicles say, was formed by the 

 conjoint labour of " men and demons ; " the demons 

 (or Yakkos) being the aborigines of the district.^ It is 

 a striking illustration of the grateful remembrance in 

 which the people still hold the memory of the king- 

 by whom these enormous reservoii's were formed, that 

 they not only forgot his apostasy, but, by a grateful 

 apotheosis, have exalted him to the rank of a god. The 

 small chapel near which we rested was dedicated to the 

 Mineria Saivmy, " the God of the lake," and contams, 

 as its sole relic, a bow that belonged to the deified 

 monarch. 



Till within the last few years, Minery abounded in 

 wild animals to such an extent, that it became one of 

 the favourite resorts of elephant hunters and of sports- 

 men in search of buffaloes and deer ; but the increased 

 number of guns in the hands of the natives, the annual 

 burning of the tail grass by the peasantry, and, above all, 

 the slaughter committed by the Moors, who dry the deer 

 flesh on stages in the sun, ])reparatory to carrying it to 

 the Kandyan hills, have reduced the quantities of game 

 to such an extent that the spot is now rarely traversed by 

 Em^opeans. 



As the object of my journey rendered it essential that 

 I should visit the numerous villages in the heart of the 

 island before proceeding north to Anarajapoora, I 

 tiurned westward on leavmg IVIinery, crossed the great 



1 See ante, Vol. I. Pt. iii. ch. vi. 

 p. 365 ; and ch. viii. Ih. p. 381 , &f. 

 ^ Malmwanso, cb. xxxv. p. 234. 



* Rajaratnacari, p. 00 ; RaJavaU, 

 p. 237. 



