30 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XV. 



Parakrama Bahu. There is some vegetation on the rock, as 

 well as two ponds built with cut stones. There is no beaten 

 track leading up to the hill, but any villager can guide the 

 visitor to its summit. Before arriving at the top of the hill 

 there are to be seen remains of a wall built between the 

 boulders of granite. Past this wall there are some stone 

 steps which lead to the spot, where there is an indication of 

 a" patirippuwa" having once stood. Here, sitting on his 

 royal chair, the king held an audience with his people. 

 Before you come to the site of the "patirippuwa " a small 

 tank is past. The whole hill is overgrown with jungle, and 

 it is with the utmost difficulty that one is able to climb it. 

 From the summit a splendid view of the surrounding coun- 

 try is obtained, with Kat-gala and Waduivd-gala in the near 

 distance. It is said that the offerings to the king were 

 placed on Kat-gala, and were viewed by him from the top of 

 Maligd-handa. Between the two boulders there is a cleft, 

 with marks to be seen on either flank of the rock, to fit in a 

 cross-beam, from which, tradition says, convicted criminals 

 were hurled down and killed. 



Waduwd-gala stands to the north of the above-described 

 hill, and on the right of the high road. It is a cylindrical 

 boulder with the top and bottom overgrown with grass and 

 brushwood. It derives its name from the circumstance 

 that a convict carpenter, who was imprisoned on it, made 

 his escape by cutting steps in the rock. These steps are yet 

 to be seen, and by them access to the summit is gained. 

 The steps begin about ten fathoms from the base of the hill, 

 and in order to get at them a ladder is required, and is easily 

 procurable, made by the villagers at a moment's notice of 

 rough timber, lashed together with jungle rope. Tradition 

 has it that the wife of the carpenter secreted a chisel and a 

 mallet in the bat-mulla, i.e., the boiled rice that is bound up 

 in the spathe of the arecanut, and is the usual manner in 

 which a meal is carried by a native going on a journey away 

 from home and kindred, or conveyed to him to his working 



