126 



JOURNAL E. A, S. (CEYLON.^) 



[Vol. 111. 



pddo or sub-king. The second extract is a part of the 

 concluding Chapter of the reign of the same monarch, and 

 gives a summary account of the principal public works executed 

 during his government. It consists of 87 verses, of which the 

 first 24 relate to the formation of extensive gardens and plan- 

 tations ; the next 26 to the construction of tanks and canals ; 

 and the last 27 to the erection of various public buildings, 

 such as dagabas, image houses, preaching halls, inns or houses 

 for strangers, libraries, theatres, &c. I have only translated 

 the verses relating to tanks ; those which have reference to 

 canals and water-courses having already been translated and 

 published by Mr. Turnour in the Ceylon Almanac for 1834, 



I have not thought it necessary to add any comments of my 

 own, by way of illustrating the translation ; but I may perhaps 

 be permitted to say a word in reference to the information 

 which a passage in the first extract gives respecting the " Sea 

 of Parakrama," to which so much attention has lately been 

 drawn by the publication of that valuable contribution to the 

 ancient history of Ceylon,— the " Report on the Ellahara 

 Canal, by Messrs. Adams, Churchill and Bailey." 



As stated by these gentlemen, " the situation of the i Sea 

 of Parakrama' has never hitherto been satisfactorily ascertained." 



Turnour states (vide Ceylon Almanac of 1834, p. 68) that 

 " the c Sea of Parakrama' with its embankments of many outlets 

 is yet unknown, or at least unnoticed." 



Major Forbes indeed surmised that the series of lakes 

 connected by the Ellahara Canal, might be the waters to 

 which the vanity of a King gave his own name, but he adds, 

 that " until this canal shall have been traced through the 

 Konduruwawe hills, the extent and difficulty of such an 

 undertaking must excite doubts whether it were successfully 

 accomplished," 



The explorers of the Ellahara Canal were, however, the first 

 who declared their belief, that the series of tanks connected 

 by this canal were the waters which bore the name of the 

 " Sea of Parakrama." 



