No. 58. 1907.] ANNUAL REPORT. 



133 



(6) " Wata-da-ge" — In 1904 the following progress was made 

 in the restoration cf this magnificent specimen of Buddhist stone 

 architecture : — 



The north and east steps were relaid level. The latter had to be 

 wholly taken down and reset, after filling in a deep tunnel which 

 had been formed by the wash of years under the stone pavement 

 of the upper floor round the central dagaba. 



Along the north-east quadrangle the entire moulded revet- 

 ment of the handsome stone stylcbate, and the slab wall above 

 it, were reset in lime mortar pointed with cement. Vegetation 

 had pierced the joints and displaced most of the stones. The 

 broken octagonal shafts of the stone columns, between the slab 

 wall and the inner high brick wall, were also joggled, cemented 

 together, and replaced. 



Similarly, about two-thirds of the north-west quadrant was 

 completed before the season of 1904 closed. 



A portion of the undulating stone pavement of the circular 

 maluwa round the stylobate required taking up and relaying in 

 lime mortar. 



Near the dagaba within the circular wall two more of the four 

 cardinally seated granite Buddhas, found broken into many 

 pieces, were neatly cemented. 



The past season (1906) witnessed material advanced in the 

 restoration of the " Wata-da-ge." 



The relaying of the pavement of the circular maluwa has been 

 completed from the east to the west stairs on the north side ; the 

 west steps, and the unfinished portion of the north-west stylobate, 

 with its slab wall and column shafts, reset ; and the entire portico 

 (walls, steps, pavement) on the north rebuilt. 



Many of the pavement slabs are very heavy, and every stone 

 has had to be lifted and relaid, the levels being so arranged that 

 the slope is outwards and inclined to the pili, or spouts, which 

 project through the maluwa revetment wall at regular intervals. 



The west stairs had suffered terribly from fire, probably when 

 the trees covering the site, felled in 1885-86, were foolishly burnt 

 instead of being cut up. Both balustrades — the left (north) one 

 especially — are spilt and their surface ornament (lion and pilaster) 

 greatly damaged. 



Fortunately the steps, " moonstone " slab at foot, and both 

 Ndga dwarpal terminals, remain intact. A good deal of earth 

 and vegstation, which had crep^ in behind the steps and balus 

 trades, had to be removed. It was necessary to raise, re-level, 

 and make a fresh bed for the steps which had sunk, and to 

 straighten the guardstones. 



The revetment slabs of the " Wata-da-ge " stylobate just north 

 of the western staircase also bear sad traces of fire. They lay 

 on the pavement in disorder, and had to be sorted, before being 

 raised, and fitted piece -meal in their original places. 



The portico on the north, through which the lower circular 

 maluwa of the " Wata-da-ge " is entered, was in hopeless ruin 

 in 1903. The slab faced walls were then temporarily reset and 



