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



[Vol. X. 



south and west) the ground had to be raised for the site, and 

 contained by masonry walls. These walls, which clearly 

 indicate the plan and dimensions of the palace, still remain, 

 and, especially on the southern side, are in a fair state of 

 preservation. They are built of stones rudely shaped by 

 the mason's chisel, intermingled here and there with round 

 stones from the river bed. Now in the crevices, lantana 

 and other jungle growths have found a home. 



There are three walls to the south. The length of the 

 third and outermost, which appears to have supported the 

 ground on which the guards' houses stood, is now 143 ft.,, 

 but the wall appears to have slipped away at its extremities, 

 and to have been originally of greater length. Its height is 

 5 ft. The second wall, which supported the compound, is 

 143 ft. 8 in. long and 8 ft. high. The innermost wall, which 

 supported the palace proper, is 105 ft. long and 5 ft. high. 

 On the west there are also three walls remaining, namely,, 

 the wall which supported the palace proper, 76 ft. 2 in. long : 

 a wall supporting on the west the southern portion of the 

 compound, 38 ft. 8 in. long ; and a short wall 18 ft. in length 

 to the southern site of the guards' houses. These measure- 

 ments show the superficial area of the palace proper to have 

 been 105 ft„ by 76 ft. 2 in. ; the breadth of the compound on 

 the front and south side to have been 38 ft. 8 in., and exactly 

 half this breadth (19 ft, 4 in.) on the west ; and the site of 

 the guards' houses on the south to have been 18 ft. in 

 breadth. 



The large blocks of stone at the north-west corner, which 

 I have above referred to, are believed to have formed part of 

 the Nlrdviya. One of them has had a groove cut in the 

 centre. Two of them have been removed from their original 

 position in the compound to the site of the palace proper, 

 where they now form a portion of a small watercourse. The 

 cubic measure of the largest stone is about 19^ ft. 



The ground on which the palace stood was sold by the 

 English Government, about sixty years ago, to the late Rate- 

 mahatmaya of Mampitiya, by whom it was resold to 



