No. 27. — 1884.] tissamaharama archaeology. 51 



On each side of the vertical bar, and above the short 

 upright side-bars, there appear to be letters ; but they are 

 so indistinct that I have been unable to decipher any of 

 them. The first one, the upper letter on the left side, 

 seems to resemble the first letter on coin No. 2. 



This coin was met with in widening a high-level channel 

 from the west sluice near the ruins of a small dagaba 

 marked on the plan. I have already mentioned that there 

 were some better-class dwellings along this channel. Their 

 floors were cut through at depths varying from two to five 

 feet below the present ground -level, and it was among the 

 deeper ones that this coin was found. Several fragments 

 of pottery discovered at the site are quite similar to those 

 unearthed at the potters' establishment on the opposite 

 side of the Tissa tank ; and, so far as one can judge from 

 the general nature of the remains, their depth below the 

 surface, the character of the pottery, and especially the sizes 

 of the bricks (which are almost exactly the same as those 

 of the Maharama, and might have been made with the 

 same moulds), these ruins are at least as old as those found 

 in cutting out the site for the new sluice. 



5. A roughly circular copper coin, having a mean dia- 

 meter of about 1*27 inch, and a weight of 220 grains. 

 This coin has, unfortunately, been badly stamped, so that 

 part of the design is omitted on both faces, As a result of 

 this, however, it can clearly be seen that two dies have not 

 been exactly opposite, from which it is probable that the 

 copper disk was laid on a die, and impressed by blows on 

 another die held by the hand. The design on the reverse 

 face seems to have been afterwards cut out more deeply by 

 hand. The designs on both faces are brought into relief by 

 sinking the back-ground. 



Obverse.— The design is surrounded by two parallel 

 circular lines, *10 inch apart, having between them an 

 intermediate line, broken, in one part, by a series of dots, 

 and perhaps similarly broken on the opposite side, which is 

 missing in this specimen. About three-quarters only of 

 the design on this face can be seen, the rest, owing to the 

 irregularity of the stamping, having missed the disk. 



In the right-hand lower corner is the side-view of a well- 

 shaped elephant in relief, facing to the left, with extended 



d2 



