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



of my visit I was fortunate enough to escape making their 

 closer acquaintance. In order to reach the summit, ladders 

 are required, but the climb is not very formidable. Nowhere 

 did I find any signs of a stream of water, while at the base of 

 the entire mountain I only discovered adry channel that 

 probably floods during the rains ; in fact the extreme scarcity 

 of water evidently led to the early abandonment of this old 

 fortification. 



The summit of the " chimney " is nearly flat, and probably 

 about four acres in extent, a great proportion of which is 

 exposed rock, broken by patches of stunted vegetation. On 

 reaching the top of the rock from its southward extremity one 

 finds at once the remains of tanks, the first of which is a small 

 stone pokuna cut out of the living rock, and still partially 

 filled with green, slimy water. 



Next to this is a second pokuna, partially natural and 

 supplemented on its western flank with stonework terminat- 

 ing in a brick walling. This reservoir appears once to 

 have been roofed in, as a number of narrow, thin, flat tiles 

 indicate that such had been the case. 



The size is however comparatively small, though the work- 

 manship points to its having been of importance . To the north- 

 west of this last-mentioned " tank " is a third, and by far the 

 largest of them. It consists of a large mass of stonework 

 erected bund wise at the lower extremity of a natural hollow, or 

 valley, between the rocks, in order to dam up the rain water. 

 The stonework is in good preservation and consists of cut 

 stone blocks, bound together and set in a semi-circular 

 outline. The stone has in one place been supplemented by 

 blocks of lime concrete, each individual piece being laid with 

 great precision. These blocks measured about 2 ft. 6 in. by 

 20 in. by 10 in. , but were not of uniform size. The area of this 

 tank was considerable, as compared with the confined limits 

 within which it was placed, and probably it was intended to 

 afford the entire water supply of the " station." 



Beyond this tank there are abundant remains of brickwork 

 scattered in all directions, but my time being very limited I 

 was unable to discover the nature or dimension of the building 

 that once occupied the cap of Govinda-hela. I found no sign of 



