NO. 47. — 1896.] ANCIENT CITIES AND TEMPLES. 143 



From 5,300 to 5,620 ft. a large gneiss rock extends in the 

 line of the embankment, which was the former spill.* 



Along the ground immediately in front of it is a series of 

 small broken pillars in pairs, the remains of a foot-bridge 

 once in use. Some stonework, laid without chunam and 

 carried longitudinally over the spill, enables the people to 

 retain about 2 ft. of water above the level of the lower part 

 of the rock, but with the exception of two or three stones it 

 has been quite washed away. 



Breach No. 3 extends from 6,540 to 6,675 ft. On its 

 northern side was a second high-level sluice, of which only 

 a few traces remain. Its greatest depth is 30 ft. 



At 7,000 ft. is a small breach 15 ft. deep, through which 

 a footpath passes to the tank. 



At 7,780 ft. the Wariyapola-Chilaw minor road crosses the 

 bund. 



Among the debris at the farther end of the bund are to be 

 found some finely carved slabs of rock, some bearing inscrip- 

 tions. Here, too, is to be seen on the outside of the bund a 

 small bathing-place (a cistern of considerable dimensions) 

 called Biso-kotuwa or Biso-ndpu-wala (queen's bath), the 

 reason of their not bathing in the tank being that it 

 contained crocodiles. 



The contour of Panda-vewa has been run at a level intended 

 to retain 15 ft. of water at the new sluice, and it is found 

 that 453| acres of paddy fields and nine small villages are 

 included in it. The villages are : Andohawa, Dematagolla^ 

 Jayasirigama, Ihala Pulundawa,Madige Pandava,Panda-vewa, 

 Pahala Diggalagedara, Pahala Pulundawa, and Toragolla, all 

 which will be submerged on the restoration of the tank. 



With the head of water as mentioned above, the length of 

 the tank will be 3^ miles, covering an area of 1,360 acres, 

 with a capacity of 15,403,000 cubic yards. 



* There is a rock in the embankment called by the natives Deviyanne- 

 handa, God's hill, or King's hill, which they believeiis haunted by the spirit 

 of King Mahasen, to whom tradition ascribes the construction of the tank. 

 (.MaJtawansa, Appendix, p. 383.) 



