NO. 47.— 1896.] ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY, SIGIRIYA. 253 



from the north. At the south-east corner are the remains of 

 a quartz aqueduct, but too broken to restore. The spreading 

 roots of a fine specimen of Ficus Tsiela now fill up the 

 south-west corner.* 



An effort to pump the water out of the pond over the high 

 bund, and to pass it down the east cliff, proved a Sisyphean 

 task — utterly futile. The black, viscous mud of ages choked 

 the draw-pipe, and the borrowed hose split everywhere. 

 With infinite labour of days we reduced the water by a foot 

 and a half : in two nights the rain put as much back ! Then, 

 as a last resource, the brick wall was cut through on the 

 south-east down to the rock, and wooden yotu (Sinhalese 

 hand- worked scoops) tried — with complete success. These 

 simple and effective implements emptied the pond in a 

 few days. The subsequent removal of mud and debris, with 

 which the pokuna had silted up, occupied some time, owing 

 to the numerous steps and pavement slabs that the wash- 

 away of centuries had deposited at the bottom. 



In the silt nothing of interest was found embedded. 



The pokuna, now scoured and clean, should furnish 

 abundance of pure drinking water for our next season. 



The " finds " made this year were hardly less disappointing 

 than those of 1895. Pottery, as before, predominates — half 

 a dozen flower-pots, lamps, fragments innumerable of chatties, 

 dishes, &c. ; a little stucco ornament ; and iron and copper 

 nails, bolts, &c, ad libitum. 



Among the few unusual articles exhumed were the 

 " toe-cap" (copper) of a sandal, a small copper bell, a pair 

 of ancient iron scissors, an iron finger-ring, some cornelian 

 beads, flakes of discoloured talc, and three or four k ' third- 

 brass " oboli of the later Roman Empire.f The last are of 

 definite historical interest. Similar coins have been occa- 

 sionally found at Anuradhapura and elsewhere throughout 



* For photographs of the pokuna, see C 367 (under forest growth. 1894) ; 

 429, 430 (jungle felled but unburnt, 1895) ; 614-18 (excavated, 1896). 



f Since cleaned sufficiently to read on reverse : Gloria Romanorum. 

 Probably coins of Honorius (395-423 a.d.)- 



