110 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [YOL. X. 



I commenced work with a gang of coolies on December 26. 

 My intention was to cut shallow trenches and run them along 

 until I came to something, but soon found that the difficulty 

 of clearing the thick jungle and opening the hard baked 

 ground — particularly hard near the surface — would run away 

 with the funds at my disposal in a very short time. I 

 therefore decided on making pits here and there. 



Excavation was commenced at a spot marked 26 on 

 Plan 2. At a depth of from four to five feet we came upon a 

 layer of remains. The soil about that depth was good, but 

 below five feet it became exceedingly dry — fine sand and 

 ashes, or something like ashes. I thought I had got into a 

 dust-bin — and the numerous fragments of chatties, pieces of 

 bone, and other things looked very like it. 



The following is a list of the things excavated this day : — 



(1) Fragments of chatties. — I have not been able to find 

 any writing on any of these fragments, and I am unable 

 to say whether they bear any certain evidence of their 

 age. Some of them appear unfinished, and from the 

 presence of some lumps of clay I am led to believe 

 that I had hit upon the site of a potter's dwelling. 

 It will be interesting to compare them with Mr. Parker's 

 specimens from Tissamaharama. I think that the depth at 

 which they were found alone argues considerable antiquity. 

 A depth of four or five feet in the silt of a tank is not much, 

 but on the top of a hill entirely beyond the reach of floods or 

 cyclonic waves is a good deal, particularly in a dry climate 

 where vegetation is anything but rank. 



(2) Bones. — I have not been able to identify these, but 

 they are not human. One is a piece of deer horn. 



(3) Enamelled porcelain, of a description which, so far as 

 I know, was never made either in India or Ceylon. It is 

 more like Chinese or Japanese ware. I have some Singapore 

 ware which resembles some of it. 



(4) Glassware. — Such as I have seen in the Egyptian 

 Court of the British Museum. 



(5) Lumps of quartz. 



