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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VoL. XXII. 
steps or entrances of any kind. Their sides are formed of 
large rough stones laid in straight rows, and within the space 
thus formed they are filled up with stone rubble. Some 
contain brick debris, others do not, but possibly it may have 
all been washed away. The four sides of these platforms face 
approximately the four cardinal points, though in all cases 
their north is 20 or 30 degrees west of the north, as my 
compass gives it. They must have been the sites of buildings 
of some sort, but it is hard to imagine their exact nature : 
they can hardly have contained much brickwork, for almost 
all traces of brick have disappeared : they probably were 
not tiled, for I did not find even a single fragment of tile. 
It is therefore fairly certain that they were built of wood. 
Their length from north to south, as a rule, slightly 
exceeds their width from east to west, and in all cases they 
were small. I measured several, with the results given below : 
16 ft. by 13 ft.; 18 ft. by 15 ft.; 18 ft. by 17 ft.; 15 ft. by 
15 ft. From their ruined state measurements must be only 
approximations. 
Of the earliest monastery, we have, therefore, the following 
traces : — One large natural cave, spacious enough to shelter 
thirty people at least, with an inscription of the first or second 
century B.C.; an adjacent natural cistern, with an inscription of 
the same period ; another natural cistern, with a rather later 
inscription ; and a number of small rudely built stone 
platforms, once the sites of buildings in which the stones 
were collected , not quarried, iov they bear no wedge marks; 
also three lean-to caves beneath boulders in which are no 
inscriptions, but which have cut drip-ledges. 
3. — First Post Christian Monastery. 
Of the next period, the most important item is the dagaba 
which stands on the apex of the largest and highest rock. 
From its bricks Mr. Parker (" Ancient Ceylon," page 244) 
supposed this dagaba to belong to the second century or early 
first century B.C. If he is correct, then the dagaba must be 
added to the description already given of the first monastery ; 
but^ for several reasons, I am inclined to disassociate the 
