No. 21. — 1884.] TISSAMAHAKAMA ARCHAEOLOGY. 



47 



corals ;* but a red carnelian with, flat sides, a tourmaline 

 (identified by Mr. Dixon) of clear amber-like colour, and of 

 oval section longitudinally ; an admirably cut and polished 

 spherical carnelian, and three small blue glass beads of a 

 cylindrical shape, have been obtained, in addition to a large 

 spherical bead of jade, and a cylindrical bead of the silicate 

 of alumina. All are pierced for stringing. 



6. A well-made but thick finger-ring of jade, which 

 unfortunately crumbled away on being taken up, appeared 

 from its size to have been worn by a woman. 



7. Several other small pieces of jade have been found, 

 but as they are only in fragments their uses cannot be 

 ascertained. Mr, Dixon has examined some of these, and 

 confirmed the identification. 



8. Part of a black glass bangle, flat inside, '18 inch broad, 

 •12 inch thick, and having an internal diameter of 1-94 inch, 

 was met with in the distributing channel in the paddy field, 

 to which previous reference has been made, (" Household 

 Utensils," No. 19.) Glass bangles, like this one, are now 

 worn in South India, I am told. 



Money. 



The discovery of nine different copper coins is among the 

 most interesting facts connected with these researches. Five 

 of them at least are new to collectors ; and their value and 

 rarity may be surmised when it is stated that the oldest 

 specimen goes back to a date quite 1,300 years beyond the 

 earliest coins previously identified in the Island, namely, 

 those of Parakrama Bahu I. (1153 to 1186 A.D.) Three, 

 if not four, of the other coins are of not very much later 

 date. There can be no doubt as to the antiquity of the 

 oldest coin met with. I myself was present when it was 



* When Dutthagamini was about to build the Kuwanwseli dagaba, 

 the architect, in order to provide the king with a graphic illustration 

 of the shape in which he intended to build it, is described as causing a 

 bubble to rise in a golden basin of water — " a great globule, in the form 

 of a coral bead." (3fah,, p, 175.) 



The story is most improbable, theThuparama being already in exist- 

 ence near the site, as a model for the new dagaba, but it is interesting 

 as showing the early use of coral beads in Ceylon. 



At Mah. 9 p. 164, there are also mentioned a pair of Dutthagamini's 

 slippers ornamented with beads. 



