378 JOURNAL, r.a.s. (ceylon). [Vol, XL 



Tradition has it that during a severe drought which visited 

 the District of Seven Korales before the granite hills were 

 placed in situ, the animals after whom they are named 

 made an incursion into the town in search of water in the 

 direction of the Wenoruwewa tank. A venerable Sinhalese 

 dame, sinking under the weight of years and infirmities, 

 fearing lest these formidable intruders might exhaust the 

 water supply of the town in quenching their thirst, and 

 considering that the animal to whom her attentions should 

 first be directed was the noble monarch of the forest, in- 

 geniously deposited a lump of salt before the elephant, who, 

 weak and famished, lay down and began licking the prof erred 

 dainty ; while she improvised a tat of leaves and placed it so 

 as to screen off the tank from the sight of the thirsty monster. 

 This was only a temporary device to permit of the aged dame 

 devoting herself to prayers, and tendering her offering to the 

 gods to avert the impending calamity. This she lost no time in 

 doing. Before the lump of salt could be appreciably reduced 

 in size the devotee's petition was answered, and lo ! the ruthless 

 invaders were petrified on the spot, while the tat of leaves 

 as well as the lump of salt were similarly transformed ! 



Apart from the legends and traditions connected with these 

 gigantic cliffs, which would doubtless form an interesting 

 contribution to " Sermons in Stones," they are remarkable in 

 other respects. 



Writers of books and papers on Ceylon, in describing the 

 chief features of Kurunegaia, have never gone beyond the 

 third or fourth rock in the chain, and grave errors have 

 occasionally crept into the accounts. It is with a view of 

 collating all the attainable information available to me of an 

 authentic nature, and of rectifying, as far as lies in my power, 

 the mistakes into which previous writers have fallen, that 

 this Paper has been written. 



The etymology of the name of the capital of the North- 

 Western Province is referred by some to the principal rock in 

 the town (Eta-gala), but there is a great diversity of opinion 

 on this question. 



