chap. v. RUINS OF POLLANARUA. 85 



give a park-like appearance to the scene, and afford a 

 delightful resort for the deer. 



In strolling through these shady glades you sud- 

 denly arrive among the ruins of ancient Pollanarua. 

 The palaces are crumbled into shapeless mounds of 

 bricks. Massive pillars, formed of a single stone, 

 twelve feet high, stand in upright rows throughout 

 the jungle here and there over an extent of some 

 miles. The buildings which they once supported 

 have long since fallen, and the pillars now stand like 

 tombstones over vanished magnificence. Some build- 

 ings are still standing ; among these are two dagobas, 

 huge monuments of bricks, formerly covered with 

 white cement, and elaborately decorated with dif- 

 ferent devices. These are shaped like an egg 

 that has been cut nearly in half, and then placed 

 upon its base ; but the cement has perished, and they 

 are mounds of jungle and rank grass which has over- 

 grown them, although the large dagoba is upwards of 

 a hundred feet high. 



A curious temple, formed on the imperishable prin- 

 ciple of excavating in the solid rock, is in perfect pre- 

 servation, and is still used by the natives as a place of 

 worship : this is presided over by a priest. Three 

 large images of Bhudda, carved out of solid rock, oc- 

 cupy the positions in which he is always represented ; 

 that in the recumbent posture is fifty-six feet long, cut 

 from one stone. 



