612 



THE RUINED CITIES. 



[Part X. 



And there were gardens bright -with sinuous rills, 

 Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree^ 



And forests, ancient as the hills, 

 Enfolding sunny spots of gi-eenerj\" ^ 



On readiino; the o-rass-orown street which intersected 

 the city from north to soiitli, tlie first object that strikes 

 the eye is the vast collection of stone columns, each 

 twelve feet in height, that mark the site of the Maha- 





KCIN3 OF THE BRAZEK PAT. AGE. 



loica-paya, the "Brazen Palace" of Dutugaimmiu^ ; 

 which, according to the Mahawanso, was supported by 

 " sixteen hundred pillars of rock." ^ 



These pillars retain the marks of the wedges by 

 Avhich they were spht off in the quarry, and are so 

 rough and undressed, that they suggest the idea of 

 having been formerly coated with chunam ; a conjecture 

 which is supported by those passages in the Mahaicanso 

 which describe the beauty and decorations of the original 

 buildings.* ^_^ 



^ COLEKIDGE. 



2 See an account of this building. 

 Vol. I. Pt. ni. ch. V. p. 356. 

 2 Mahaivanso, ch. xxxvi. 



* MaJiawanso, ch. xxvii. p. 103. 

 The Hojavali, p. 222, implies that 

 they were covered with copper.^ — See 

 ante, Vol. I. Pt. iv. ch. vii. p. 482. 



