50 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIV. 



27. Excavations were started from the head of the steps 

 which still mark the point where the " gallery " reached the 

 summit at the north-east edge of the Rock. 



28. Progress was necessarily slow. The intense — almost 

 unbearable— heat on the exposed and shadeless Rock ; only 

 impure water from the pokuna to slake thirst ; and an 

 unusual depth (15 ft. in places)* to deal with of caked brick 

 and stone debris held together by tree-roots, all rendered 

 the daily task no light one. 



29. It soon became patent that we had to face ruins of 

 at least two periods. Walls were found to run over walls, 

 pavement above pavement, and stairs below stone ramps. 

 I therefore deemed it advisable to sink the trenches down 

 to the bare rock in most cases. 



30. As, too, the internal arrangement of rooms varied, 

 every wall had to be followed along its inner as well as its 

 outer face. 



31. Further, the certainty that buildings, passages, &c, 

 covered the entire summit to the very edge of the cliff all 

 round made it necessary to carry every basketful of earth, 

 &c, to the eastern verge and throw it to spoil below. 



32. Broadly speaking, the buildings (so far as can at 

 present be judged) seem to have contained spacious rooms 

 separated by passages paved with quartz flags and united by 

 quartz stairs — quartz everywhere — a striking feature of the 

 Sigiriya ruins.f 



33. One boldly-carved asanaya (9 ft. 10 in. by 4 ft. 6 in.), 

 or throne, hewn out of the mahd-gala (the gneiss rock core), 

 has been exposed. It fronts east, and lies at the foot of the 

 high ground west of the area excavated.^ 



34. A little useful work was also done near the south- 

 west edge. The cistern sunk here into the solid rock, 

 measuring 13 ft. 2 in. by 9 ft. 10 in. and 8 ft. 6 in. in depth, 



* Drawing (C) and Album, C 475, 47G- 



f See Plan (B). 



% Album, 477. 478, 



