No. 44.-1893.] 



EPIC OF PARAKRAMA. 



Gaja made no attempt to take unfair advantage of this con- 

 cession. He retired to another city, and made a solemn gift 

 of the kingdom, by an inscription on a stone tablet in vihdra : 

 " I have given the royal country to Parakrama." Soon after 

 this he died and Parakrama took possession of Pulatthi. 



There was still a great deal of fighting to be done before 

 Manabharana was finally subdued ; and I am sorry to find 

 myself obliged to dispose of it all in a single sentence. 

 When the dominion of Lanka was at length completely 

 attained, then the magnificent works for which Parakrama's 

 name is best remembered were still to be begun. That por- 

 tion of his life, in which be exercised the power attained, 

 is a distinct subject ; the course of heroic action by which 

 he attained it is all that I have tried to sketch to-night. It 

 was given to him. to unite the careers of a Julius and of an 

 Augustus ; we have followed him to the point at which the 

 greater Roman's course was cut short, and leave our hero 

 prepared to inaugurate the Augustan age of Lanka. 



6. Mr. Harward read the following statement with regard to the 

 continuation of the series of Papers on " The Ancient Industries of 

 Ceylon,"* by Geo. Wall, f.l.s., e.r.a.s., Vice-President : — 



After a brief summary of the results of his earlier Papers, the writer 

 stated that the problem to be solved was to ascertain the extent of the 

 population of Ceylon in early times, and how they were occupied. 

 The criterion to be employed was an estimate by an expert of the 

 number of days' work required for the construction of some of the 

 great public works carried out under the early kings . From a com- 

 parison of this number with the recorded time taken over the same 

 works, it would be possible to infer the number of men employed. 

 The writer showed in outline how such a calculation might be made, 

 and how the numbers of the other sections of the population might be 

 deduced from it. 



7. A vote of thanks to the Chair and to the writers of the Papers 

 was passed on a motion proposed by Mr. Justice Lawrie. 



8. Sir E. Walker having acknowledged the vote of thanks to 

 the Chair, addressed the Meeting, and endorsed the vote to the Lord 

 Bishop and to Mr. Wall. His Lordship having replied, the proceedings 

 terminated. 



* See Vol. X., Journal No. 37, 1888, pp. 327-364 ; and Proceedings, 

 1887-88, pp. lviii.-lxvi. and lxviii.-lxxix.; Vol. XII., Journal No. 42, 1891, 

 pp. 1-22 ; also pp. 47-62. 



