No. 66. — 1905.] TWO old sijjihalbsb swobds. 
447 
APPENDIX. 
Two Old Si^thalbse Swords. 
(Note by H. C. P. Bell^ Archceological Commissioner.) 
The two swords, the subject of Mr. C. M, Fernando'^ 
Paper,* were seen by me casually some twenty years ago* 
They have been closely inspected, for the first timef this 
year (1906), at the request of the Council of the Ceylon 
Asiatic Society (Council Meetings May 2, 1906, Resolution 
luj). 
(2) When received for examination from the Colombo 
Museum the main writing§ on both swords was coated with 
white paint. 
After removing this veneer the inscriptions were examinedy 
letter by letter, under a magnifying glass. 
For further aid, a Sinhalese draughtsman made careful 
tracings of the records, and enlarged them to double their 
actual size. 
(3) The writing on both the swords is considerably 
worn — in places hopelessly. 
In regn.rd to calligraphy the characters are roughly formed,, 
and wanting in the finish of saunas engraved on copper 
plates. The letters may have been parti:illy burnt in with 
some strong acid, through a stencil " facing of wax or other 
material, before being touched with a graving tool. 
* See ante, pp. 388-391. 
t As well as a third inscribed sword (hiltless) referred to in the 
pamphlet '* The Kara-Goi Contest " (Gr. A. Dharmaratna, Advocate), 
1890, p. 58. The year of the record on this sword is illeg"ible, as well as 
the name save warige nam of the g-rantee, " Kouravera Aditt[ya] Arasa 
Nilayitta'' The name of a Kin^ " Para[kramal^ Baku Maha raja " occurs 
% and the month and day (Vesak, 1 5th. full moon, Tuesday). 
% See ante, p. 392. 
§ There are faint traces of larger writing, very worn, on both sides 
of Sword No. 2. This supports the supposition of the later inscribing of 
the pre-ent records in accordance with a tradition connected with the 
swords and the oriofinal writing on them. On the doublj -lettered face, 
above the first line of the more modern record, the words Jayawardha 
['/wpwjra Sri \^Sa']ng Bodhi Srt \^Pal^ra[krama^ Bdlhul'' are legible in 
older script. * 
L 96-05 
