Ruins of Ancient Mahagam. 141 



jungle and prickly cactus. I traversed the jungle for 

 some distance until arrested by the impervious nature 

 of the bushes ; but wherever I went the ground was 

 strewed with squared stones and fallen brickwork over- 

 grown with rank vegetation. 



The records of Ceylon do not afford any satisfactory 

 information concerning the original foundation of this 

 city ; the first time that we hear of it is in the year 286 

 b. c. ; but we have no account of the era or cause of its 

 desertion. Although Mahagam is the only vestige of 

 an ancient city in this district, there are many ruined 

 buildings and isolated dagobas of great antiquity 

 scattered throughout the country. I observed on a peak 

 of one of the Kattregam hills large masses of fallen 

 brickwork, the ruins of some former buildings, probably 

 coeval with Mahagam. The whole of this district, now 

 so wild and desolate, must in those days have been thickly 

 populated and highly cultivated, although, from the 

 present appearance of the country, it does not seem pos- 

 sible that it has ever altered its aspect since the Creation. 



Descending a steep bank shaded by large trees, we 

 crossed the bed of the Manick Ganga (Jewel River). 

 The sand was composed of a mixture of mica, quartz, sap- 

 phire, ruby and jacinth, but the large proportion of ruby 

 sand was so extraordinary that it seemed to rival Sindbad 

 the Sailor's vale of gems. The whole of this was val- 

 ueless, but the appearance of the sand was very inviting 

 as the shallow stream in rippling over it magnified the 

 tiny gems into stones of some magnitude. I passed an 

 hour in vainly searching for a ruby worth collecting, 

 but the largest did not exceed the size of mustard seed. 



The natives use this sand for cutting elephants' teeth, 

 in the same manner that a stonemason uses sand to 



