8 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. X. 



leaves of the kora-kaha ( Memecylon umbellatum ) and of the 

 bombu (Symplocos spicata), and the heart of the ahu tree 

 ( Morinda citrifolia ) ; or (ii.), the flowers of the sepdlikd tree 

 (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis) — this is supposed to make the 

 choicest pandu; or (iii.), the wood of the timbol, a large 

 thorny creeper ; or (iv.), the heart of the mtlla (Vitex altis- 

 sima ), with ashes made by burning the wood of the kebella 

 tree (Aporosa Lindleyana). 



In the banks of a channel recently cut I have found a 

 large collection of ancient roof -tiles, thickly coated with blue 

 enamel or glaze. None are absolutely perfect, though many 

 are very nearly so. One fragment is coated with white 

 enamel, the only specimen I have seen of this colour, while 

 another has evidently been thickly gilded, and still bears 

 very perceptible traces of its gold coating. All the blue tiles 

 were found in one spot, about seven feet deep, and even the 

 offer of a reward has failed to elicit any more specimens. 



From such authorities as I have been able to consult on the 

 subject of enamelled or glazed tiles, I gather that glazes 

 having the composition of good enamels were manufactured 

 at a very early date. Excellent glazes are still preserved on 

 some of the bricks which have been referred to the eighth or 

 seventh centuries B.C. Nor should we forget the glazed 

 slipper-shaped coffins which occur in great numbers at Warka, 

 — probably the ancient Ur of the Chaldees, — and are referred 

 to the Sassanian period. The glazes on the Babylonian 

 bricks were examined by Dr. Percy, who found that the 

 base was a soda glass or silicate of sodium, rendered opaque 

 in some specimens by the presence of stannic oxide, or 

 coloured blue in others by means of silicate of copper asso- 

 ciated with the sodic silicate. Glazes of a similar character 

 were also manufactured by the Egyptians as early as the sixth 

 dynasty. Separate figures, &c, were produced in a substance 

 which has been miscalled porcelain, and which is in fact a 

 frit coated with various coloured glazes, of which the most 

 common is a fine celestial blue colour. This colour is due 

 to the presence of a double silicate of copper and sodium. 



