NO. 51. — 1900.] ANNUAL REPORT. 



149 



(&) Appointment of a Labour Assistant to the Archaeological 

 Commissioner. 



(c) Attaching to the Department as Epigraphists Messrs. D. M. 

 de Z. Wickramasinha and B. Gunasekara, Mudaliyar and 

 Chief Sinhalese Translator to Government. 



With this aid, proportionate progress has been made. For the first 

 time excavations have been carried on simultaneously at two centres 

 (Anuradhapura and Sigiriya) ; whilst preliminary work has been 

 started in connection with the systematic and scientific publication of 

 the ancient inscriptions of the Island (Epigraphia Zeylanicd). 



Excavations, dc. 



Anuradhapura. — At Anuradhapura half the labour force was con- 

 tinuously employed under Mr. C. E. Dashwood, Labour Assistant. 

 Most of the year was occupied in pushing excavations southwards from 

 Thupardma Dagaba towards Ruivanveli Dagaba. In this long stretch 

 of picturesque park little of the ancient ruins remains untampered 

 with. Ill-considered later day reconstruction from older buildings 

 has transformed the site generally into an irregular congeries of 

 insignificant and uninteresting monks' dwellings, with attendant 

 outhouses innumerable. Amidst the mediocre medley of ruins one*or 

 two stand out markedly — e.g., the beautiful pair of shrines, miscalled 

 " pavilions," square columned, with spreading dwarf-band capitals. 



In the dry weather work was temporarily resumed at Elala Sohona.. 

 Here the summit of the flat-topped mound (traditional^ fixed as the 

 tomb of the Tamil King Elala) has been thoroughly dug, revealing 

 walls and cross walls. 



Towards the close of the year the whole force of coolies was con- 

 centrated at Bandara Puliyankulam, 2% miles from the town, with 

 the object of completing the excavation of the extensive Buddhist 

 monastery situated to the east of the Jaffna road. Between thirty and 

 forty pirivenas, lying regularly round and outside the main temenos 

 containing the dagaba and three viharas, have been laid bare ; and at 

 the magnificent pilima-ge the re-setting of the fallen slabs of the 

 stylobate revetment was nearly completed. 



Sigiriya. — A final season was spent at Sigiriya in rounding off the 

 jieldworh of the Archaeological Survey at Sigiri Nuivara. The ex- 

 cavation of the summit and terraces at the base of the Rock was 

 finished in 1898. The past year was devoted to the digging out of 

 the numerous caves, beneath boulders dotted below the rock to the 

 west, besides sporadic excavations at other promising sites {e.g., three 

 or four moated islands) within the nil bemma, or outermost ramp of 

 the ancient city. In restoration steady progress has been made in the 

 heavy task of re-building, on the old lines, (a) the southern approach to 

 the gallery, (b) the staircase which -terminated the gallery's tortuous 

 climb to the Rock summits, and (c) the greatly wrecked portion of the 

 gallery itself at its north end. The laying of a concrete bed in rock 

 cut grooves for the foundations of the new brick-built wall to replace 

 the ancient wall, involved constant risk to life, and great labour ; 

 but was safely accomplished by the end of the season. The preserva- 

 tion, as far as practicable, of the frescoes in the "pockets" was also 

 commenced. 



