46 The Remains at Pag&n. [No. 1, 



from a distance, or merely for tiie deposit of images of Gautama. 

 No traces at least of the latter remained. At one side there was 

 a small house-like building, apparently once two-storied, which may 

 have been the residence of the Poongyee, or Prior, if this was in- 

 deed a conventual establishment, as it most probably was. There 

 was also a small tank surrounded by brick steps. The whole of 

 this court appeared to be of later date than the temple enclosure, 

 and of inferior workmanship. 



The Skive Ku or ' Golden Cave,' which an inscription, of which 

 Mr. Crawfurd has given a translation by Dr. Judson, assigns to 

 about the year 1552, is a very elegant and elaborately white build- 

 ing of no great size, and stands on an elevated terrace, within the 

 city walls and near the Thapinyu. It is of the same general plan 

 and church-like appearance as the G-audapalen, but with much 

 concentrated ornament. The projecting vestibule faces the north, 

 which is unusual. In nearly all the other temples, which are not 

 absolutely symmetrical on the four sides, the principal entrance 

 is to the east. The interior is unusually light and spacious in 

 proportion to the area of the building. It is a square vaulted cham- 

 ber, in the centre of which rises a square mass of masonry support- 

 ing the spire, and on the four sides of which are so many 

 Gautamas. It contains several inscriptions ; two of them, in very 

 clear and elegant square Burmese characters, being built into the 

 wall, and, as noticed by Crawfurd, covered with a very hard black 

 varnish so as pefectly to resemble black marble, though a knife 

 forcibly applied to the edge will shew the sandstone beneath. 



There are several other minor temples of interest near Thapinyu. 

 A little to the south, and outside the ramparts, stands a group of 

 temples called Sem-byo-ku, to the beautiful details of which I 

 have several times referred. The most conspicuous of the ruins 

 to the westward of Thapinyu is marked by a very curious dome 

 and spire of the Ceylon Dagoba form, but both dome and spire 

 being polygons of twelve sides. This building, from several 

 peculiarities of aspect, is suggestive of great antiquity. The inter- 

 nal vault, which is of considerable height, springs from the ground 

 on every side. In one part of the entrance which, in its length 

 the thick mass of brickwork, exhibits various heights and construe- 



