KM 



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



Mount the topmost flight of steps of the erstwhile " gallery" 

 still in position ; and note the view. 



Directly in front, looking south from the vantage ground 

 of the east to west cross bank, stretched below as far as the 

 central pokuna, is so much of the lower area as lies between 

 the Rock's north and east edges and the high ridge that 

 occupies the western half of the summit. Most here is com- 

 paratively level — the only level portion of any extent in a 

 citadel where terraced arrangement was inevitable from the 

 irregular conformation of the Rock's surface. This area was 

 seemingly allotted to courtyards, passages, and side rooms. 

 Half-way a winding staircase of three or four nights of 

 steps — the longest on the Rock, and pierced at its head 

 through tall flanking walls — shows the means of direct 

 communication with the upper area to the west. At the side 

 of these stairs is the magnificently carved " gal-dsanaya" or 

 granite throne, discovered in 1895. 



On the left, skirting the east edge of the Rock, was a range 

 of minor rooms and passages, doubtless communicating 

 with an outermost corridor, which almost encircled the 

 citadel. This series of side chambers was continued on to 

 near the south end of the Rock, interrupted only at the pond, 

 where extra rooms, &c, intervene. 



As I had occasion to note in last year's Report : — 



That part of the ancient citadel lying south of the pond, and east 

 of the high-level strip, was laid out in a series of cross-terraces, east 

 and west, varying in width — and falling away southwards. From the 

 poJcuna to the foot of the last staircase at the extreme south are seven 



or eight distinct terraces The centre is taken up with an open 



courtyard and passages leading to the pond, and round it, on either 

 side, by stairs and intermediate landings — all admirably planned to 

 suit the physical conditions, and displaying great ingenuity in turning 

 to full account the limited space and surface inequalities of the Rock's 

 summit. 



More than one of these terraces has been curtailed and 

 hideously disfigured by single-brick ivalls of later construc- 

 tion — "patched up into a smoothness and smugness" 



* C. A. S. Journal, vol. XIV,, No. 47, 1896, p. 251. 



