No. 46.— 1895.] PROCEEDINGS. 



57 



frescoes, Mr. Burrows and the gallant Major of the C. M. I. visited 

 him at his work. Concerning Mr. Bell's remarks that the original 

 colours had not been imitated, he might say that he (Mr. Murray) 

 had taken up the colours and mixed them himself on the spot. After 

 the copying had been accomplished Mr. Burrows thought it would be 

 a good thing to leave something in the shape of a memento. They got 

 a bottle, and in that they put some of the papers of the day and coins 

 of local currency and deposited the bottle there. As they were 

 leaving the rock a Buddhist and a Sivite priest came up and asked to 

 be allowed to pray for the preservation of the bottle. (Laughter.) 

 Permission was given, and while the natives prayed he and Mr. 

 Burrows, wondering what they could do in the way of dedication and 

 sentiment, sang "God Save the Queen." Before concluding, Mr. 

 Murray said he must mention that he was simply astonished at the 

 amount of solid good work done by Mr. Bell. 



His Excellency said he had himself been up the Sigiriya rock, to a 

 point called the end of the " gallery," from which the frescoes copied 

 by Mr. Murray were visible, and he could himself testify to the extreme 

 difficulty and risk one ran in achieving even that portion (the "gallery") 

 of the ascent of the Bock. Even looking up at the frescoes almost made 

 one shudder from fear of falling over the precipice close behind, and 

 Mr. Murray's position there, lying on his back, represented to His 

 Excellency's mind what could only be described by the word " heroic." 



In reply to Mr. J. Ferguson, who inquired if that gentleman was the 

 first European who had ascended the rock this century, Mr. Murray 

 said that Mr. L. Creasy and General Lennox had reached the 

 top eighteen months before. He may have been the first to get to 

 the pocket containing the frescoes. 



Mr. J. Harward remarked that Colonel Meaden had told him that 

 day that he visited Sigiriya in 1856, and though the weather prevented 

 his ascent, English people had undoubtedly done so before that.* 



Mr. C. M. Fernando said that all of them were indebted to Messrs. 

 Bell and Murray for the interesting Papers and the frescoes. He 

 submitted that those frescoes were of great interest to the students of 

 the history of Ceylon. It was sometimes said that the Sinhalese knew 

 nothing about the fine arts. According to the early history of 

 Ceylon, it was found that there were paintings representing men and 

 women in real life during the fifth century of the Christian era, as 

 seen at Sigiriya. He also spoke of the temple of Ajanta in the 

 Deccan, where pictures similar to those in Sigiriya were found. 

 According to Dr. Fergusson, the Ajanta temple was rich in frescoes 

 representing the incidents of the history of Buddhism in Ceylon. 

 This certainly he thought confirmed the statements of the 14th 

 chapter of the Mahawansa. The frescoes in Ajanta depict, amongst 

 others, the arrival of Mahindo, the elk hunting of Devanampiya Tissa, 

 and the incidents of that monarch's reign in Ceylon. He quoted Sir 

 Emerson Tennent, in support of his contention regarding the artistic 

 faculties of the primitive Sinhalese. 



Mr. F. 0. Roles, after commenting on Mr. Murray's historical 

 references to the rock fortifications, described the difficulties and dis- 

 comforts of the journey. He had heard the name of Colonel Churchill 



* [The first Europeans to reach the summit were Messrs. A. Y. Adams 

 and J. Bailey, who made the ascent in 1853. — B.] 



