Cii.vr. yr.] ENGIXEERIXG. '465 



blocks like tlie OTeat tablet at Pollanarnia were drao'n;ed 

 to their required positions.^ 



Fortifications. — Of military engineering the Singha- 

 lese had a very slight knowledge. Walled towns and 

 fortifications are frequently spoken of, but the ascer- 

 tained difficulty of raising, squaring, or carrying stones, 

 points to the inference which is justified by the expres- 

 sions of the ancient chronicles, that the walls they 

 allude to, must have been earthworks^, and that the 

 strength of their fortified places consisted in their inac- 

 cessibihty. The first recorded attempt at fortification 

 was made by the Malabars in the second century before 

 Christ for the defence of Wijitta-poora, which is described 

 as having been secured by walls, a fosse, and a gatc.^ 

 Elala about the same period built " thirty-two bul- 

 warks " at Anarajapoora ^ ; and Dutugaimunu, in com- 

 mencing to besiege him in the citj^, followed his exam- 

 ple, by throwing up a " fortification in an open plain," at 

 a spot well provided with wood and water. ^ 



At a later time, the Malabars, when in possession of 

 tlie northern portion of tlie island, formed a chain of 

 strong "forts" from the eastern to the Avestern coast, 

 and the Singhalese, in imitation of them, occupied 

 similar positions. The most striking example of me- 

 diaeval fortification which still sur\dves, is the imperish- 

 able rock of Sigiri, north-east of Dambool, to which 

 t!ie infamous Kassyapa retired with his treasures, 

 after the assassination of his father. King Dhatu Sena, 

 A.D. 459 ; when ha^dng cleared its ^acinity, and sur- 



^ Xo document is better calculated ; 41, " built a rampart seven cubits 



to impress the reader with a due 

 appreciation of the indomitable per- 

 severance of the Singhalese in works 

 of engineering than the able report 

 of Messrs. Ada:ms, CnuKcniLL, and 

 Bailey, on the great Canal from 

 Ellahara to Gantalawa, appended to 

 the Ceylon Calendar for 1857. 



^ jNlakalantissa, who reigned B.C. 



VOL. I. II II 



high, and dug a ditch round the 

 capital." ^ — 3Iahmcanso, ch. xxxiv. n. 

 210. 



^ Hajavali, p. 212 ; 3Lihawanso, 

 cli. XXV. p. 151. 



■•■ Itajavali, p. 187. 



^ Rajacali, p. 2iG ; Jlahawmi'-o, 

 ch. XXV. p. 152. 



