CiiAr. XL] THE REIGN OF PRAKRAMA BAIIU. 409 



tliirteeii liuiidred and ninety-five, and the smaller ones a.d. 

 which he restored or enlarged to nine hundi-ed and ^^^^• 

 sixty. Besides these, he made five hundred and thu-ty- 

 foiir watercoiu'ses and canals, by damming up the rivers, 

 and repaired three thousand six hundred and twenty- 

 one.^ 



The bare enumeration of such labours conveys an 

 idea of the prodigious extent to wliich structm'es of 

 this kind had been multiplied by the early kings ; and 

 we are enabled to form an estimate of the activity of 

 agriculture in the twelfth century, and the vast popula- 

 tion whose wants it supphed, by the thousands of reser- 

 Yoiis still partially used, though in ruins; and the still 

 greater number now dry and deserted, and concealed 

 by dense jungle, in districts once waving Avith yellow 

 grain. Such was the internal tranquillity which, under 

 his rule, pervaded Ceylon, that an inscription, engraved 

 by one of his successors, on the rock of Dambool, after 

 describing the general peace and " security which he 

 established, as well in the wilderness as in the inhabited 

 places," records that, " even a woman might traverse 

 the island with a precious Jewel and not be asked what it 

 was." ^ 



In the midst of these congenial operations the energetic 

 king had command of military resoiu-ces, sufficient not 



The useful ambition of signalising I dug and repaired; and si.vty-six 

 tlieir reigTi by the construction of j canals : whereby a gi-eat deal of rice 



works of irrigation, is still exhibited 

 by the Buddhist sovereigTis of the 

 East ; and the king of Burniah in his 

 interview with the British envoy in 

 1855, advanced his exploits of this 

 natiu-e as his highest claim to distinc- 

 tion. The conversation is thus re- 

 ported in Yule's Narrative of the 

 Ilissiun. London, 1858. 



" KiiH/. Have you seen any of the 

 royal tanks at Oung-ben-le', which 

 have recently been constructed ? 



" Envoy. I have not been yet, your 

 Majesty, but I purpose going. 



" King. I have caused ninefi/-nine 

 tanks and ancient reservoirs to be 



land will be available. * * * In 

 the reign of Naiu-aba-dzyar 9999 

 tanks and canals were constructed : 

 I pm-pose renewing them." — P. 109. 

 2 Moore's melody, beginning " Rich 

 and rare were the gems she wore," 

 was foimded on a parallel figiu-e 

 illustrative of the secm-ity of Ireland 

 under the rule of Iving Brien ; when, 

 according to Warner, " a maiden 

 imdertook a journey alone, from one 

 extremity of the kingdom to another, 

 with only a wand in lier hand, at the 

 top of which was a ring of exceeding 

 great value." 



