chap. v. TIDINGS OF A ROGUE. 79 



closed in by immense dams of solid masonry, which, 

 checking the course of the rivers, formed lakes of many 

 miles in extent. These were used as reservoirs foi 

 the water required for the irrigation of rice lands. 

 The population who effected these extensive works 

 have long since passed away ; their fate is involved in 

 mystery. The records of their ancient cities still exist, 

 but we have no account of their destruction. The 

 ruins of one of these cities, Pollanarua, are within half 

 a mile of the village of Topari, and the waters of the 

 adjacent lake are still confined by a dam of two miles 

 in length, composed of solid masonry. When the 

 lake is full, it is about eight miles in circumference. 



I had only just arrived at the village, and my 

 horse-keeper had taken the horse to drink at the lake, 

 when he suddenly came running back to say that a 

 rogue elephant was bathing himself on the opposite 

 shore, at about two miles' distance. 



I immediately took my guns and went after him. 

 My path lay along the top of the great dam, which 

 formed a causeway covered with jungle. This cause- 

 way was about sixty feet in breadth and two miles in 

 length ; the lake washed its base about twenty feet 

 below the summit. The opposite shore was a fine 

 plain, bordered by open forest, and the lake spread 

 into the grassy surface in wide and irregular bays. 



I continued my course along the causeway at a 

 fast walk, and on arriving at the extremity of the lake, 



