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PROSECUTION OF THE 8UBVBT BECOVMENDED. 
The Committeo therefore recommend the vigorous 
prosptution of the Archieolonical Survey of Ceylon 
on the system of exploration and excavation hitherto 
pureucd, with only hucIi modificatioDs as are uecessary 
to increase its efficiency. 
LIMITS OF EFI-ICIENCy. 
Believing as they do that the tjoccees hitherto 
attained baa been maiuly due to the rare union iu 
Mr. Bell of the necessary qualifications — sch jlarship, 
Eower of org misation, and physical strength — aud to 
is unflagging devotion to the work the Committee 
do not recomineiid any development of the under- 
taking beyond what can be directly auperviaed by 
Mr. Bell. 
A L.\BOUIl Aa.'^IsrANT SEEDED. 
Efficiency has been hitherto ncodloBsly linaited by 
Mr. Bell's having lo give much of his attention to the 
business of engaging, directing, and checking the 
working piirties. To relieve him of this, and to 
enable him to employ a larger force of workmen, the 
Committee recommend the addition to the staff of 
ft Lab.jur Assistant (European), who would undertake 
the immediate direction, under Mr. Bell's ordera, of 
the working parties. 
Mtt. WICKRAMASI-NOHE. 
It was last year Mr. Bell's wish to obtain the 
services of Mr. D. M. do Z. Wickramasinghe as 
Assistant Commissioner, to assist him upon the 
spot in all parts of the work, and the Committee 
recommended that provision should be made for this ; 
but it has not been carried into effect, and it seems 
now to be the opinion, both of Mr. Bell and of Mr. 
Wickramasinghe, thit it is better to employ Mr. 
"Wickramasinghe only for the literary treatment of 
inscriptions and to leave him in Loudon, where he 
has special facilities for the task and may hope for the 
aid of European scholars. 
EPIORAPHV. 
Into the question of what Mr. Bell calls "Epigiaphia 
Zeylanica," the publication in I'ull with facsimiles 
and translations of a large selection of the inscriptions, 
the Committee have not been able to enter far. Mr. 
Bell considers this branch of his work extremely im- 
portant, and he urges that it ought here, as in India, 
to be carried out ^»ari pas.tu with the work of survey 
and excavation. About the probable expense opinions 
diSer widely. Upon the whole, the Committee are 
disposed to advise the undertaking, provided that the 
expense can be kept within the limits of the vote. la 
giving this advice they are influenced by the authority 
of the similar Indian Survey, aud, even more, by the 
fact that the services of three men, believed to be 
well qualified for the work — Mr. Bell, Gunasekara 
Mudaliyar, and Mr. Wickramasinghe — are just now 
available. 
The Committee adopt therefore Mr. Bell's later 
suggestion, and recommend that Mr. Wickramasinghe 
be appointed to do the epigraphical work in London 
and thatGuna=ekara Mudaliyar be instructed to verify 
or revise Mr. Wiekramasinghe's conclusions. 
PBOVISION I'OR EMPLOYMENT OP MORE WORKMEN. 
Should Mr. Bell, with his hands thus strengthened, 
be found to be in a position to enter upon more ex- 
tended and fuller exploration than is now the case, 
ho should, in the opinion of the Committee, receive a 
more libera! vote, and they recommend that any 
actual increase of the vote that may be granted should 
be strictly devoted to this purpose — the employment 
of increased labour force. 
LIMIT OF EXPENSE. 
The Committee do not, however, think that the 
more liberal vote need for the present exceed R35,000 
or 36,000 a year, and should in no circumstances 
«xceed R40,000 a year, exclusive of the salary and al- 
lowance of Mr. Bell. In the Estimates of Expenditure 
the vote for "Archieological Purposes" is shown as a 
lamp sum. This, the Committee think should be 
divided the items for general archaeological purposes 
being shown separately from the item to ooyer 
salary and allowance of .the ArchKological ( ummis- 
sioner. 
PBEBEBVATIO!* Ot If OM'if KNTI. 
i. Before leaving this part of their subject, the Cmb- 
mitteo would strongly rec 'miaead that, where tha 
work of ezploratiuii or c-xcavatiou ou any site is com- 
pleted, it should not be allowed, throogb wunt ot 
care, to Ispse into jungle, but that provision sboolll 
be made for its careful prHseriralioa. 
AN APPUOXIMATE EbllMATi; 01 DCaATlON KOT IMPOSSIBLl. 
Addree«ing themselves now lo the qnestion of the 
length of time which s complete burvey of Ceylon 
ou this system nmy occupy, the Commiitfe ob^r»e 
that it is possible to speak beforelisud with soma 
coufidcDce upon the question whether important 
monuments are likely to be fuuud iu any particular 
district or place in Ceylon— possible for tke following 
reason ; the historical works of the country (lha 
" MshawansR," Rijawaliy*," and " Rsjaralnnkara," 
with some smaller local histories) specify with mnch 
detail — for those periods which thty tiea't a It-nglh — 
the royal cities, sacred edifices, works ol irrigstion, and 
even roads, reslhouies, and roadside pillars whiob 
were erected or restored in tbuse periods. 
The niouumeuts which have been discovered 
aro, without any important exception found to b« in 
such 1- laces aud of buch sort as the biotoriea mixht 
have prepared us to expect; in fact, nothing has b&en 
more remarkable about these discori ries than the 
degree in which they have confirmed tbe native his- 
tories, and since tbe historians give ua reai^on to 
believe that the periods which they puss orer brieflv 
were perioi's of decadence or of diHturbance, in which 
no works of mngiiitode were undertaken, it is possible 
to say with justitirtble confidence that the discovery of 
important mouumeiits beyond those which iher men- 
tion is very improbable. 
PBOBABLE CENTBES OF DI8C0VERV. 
From the study of the histories it appears — af the 
Committee are informed — that Anuradhapura and 
Polonnaruwa were by far the most important seats of 
civilizatiouB during the periods when the Sinhalese 
civilisation aud the royal power were at their highest; 
that Sigiriya was theeceue of great work;-, for a short 
period ; that Tiasauiaharama was far centuries the 
capital of the kingdom of Ruhuns, in the south-east 
of the Island; and that at later dates Yapahuwa, 
Dambadeniya and other places were seats of Govern- 
ment of minor importance. It is with the first three 
of these that the Archaeological Survey has already 
been chiefly engaged, and for the reasons just given, 
the Committee are convinced that it is not to be in- 
ferred from the length of time spent upon these three 
sites that the survey of the rest of Ceylon will iuvoWe 
auythiug like a proportionate outlay time and 
money. They further observe that in the case of 
several of the places which were once important, culti- 
vation and private property make the method of ex- 
cavation quite inapplicable ; such are the cases of 
Kurunegala, Gampola, and Kotte; while the method 
would be only partially applicable in such places 
as Hangnranketa or Dambadeniya. It is only in 
Polonnaruwa, Tissamaharama, and Yapahuwa — of 
the royal sites — that any work at all like that done 
at Anuradhapura could be carried out. In view of 
these considerations, the Committee are prepared to 
accept, as founded up n sound data and pretty sure 
to be approximately correct, estimate of time 
which has been put before them. 
PROBABLE NUMBEB OF TEAES. 
Mr. Bell reckons as necessary for the rest of what 
is to be done in Anuradhapura and Mihintale six 
years (of about eight months' work each), and to Pq- 
lounarawa he assigns four. No other single place, 
except Tissamaharama, is thought likely to take any 
very considerable time. And Mr. Bell's earlier estimate 
for Tissamaharama may be much reduced in view, 
of the opinion of Mr. Parker, who haa himself already 
partially explored it. But without at all insisting on 
the details of the estimate, the Committee conclndo 
on the whole, from what they have learnt from Mr. 
