221 
Religion of the Ceylonese. 
their traditions as havino- landed on the coasts of the island co- 
vered with leprosy, and having been cured of it by living in the 
woods on cocoa-nuts. This figure is cut out on a rude block 
of granite, about thirty feet liigh, so that he appears to be 
standing in a niche. His dress is ornamented with jewels after 
their manner; a belt is placed around his waist, a collar around 
his neck, and rings in his ears. He has no beard, nor any dis- 
tinguishing mark of the Gen too casts, and his features seem 
rather to indicate his being a Cinglese. There must have been 
much time and labour employed in scooping this statue out of 
the rock. Fig. 3, plate 1, facing page 112, gives a very distinct 
idea of its appearance. ‘ About ten yards from it there is an- 
other of nearly the same size and figure. 
In the interior of Ceylon, the ruins of the pagodas and tem- 
ples which fell in my way were all of hewn stone, and of much 
superior workmanship to those in the lower parts of the country. 
Several of them were in a perfect state of preservation ; and 
on a comparison with those erected in later times, they afford 
the strongest proof either that the Ceylonese had formerly 
attained a much higher state of civilization, or that the island 
had anciently been inhabited by a different race from its present 
possessors. Most of these ancient monuments however have suf- 
fered severely from the ravages of the Portuguese, whose policy 
it was to destroy all monuments of art or former splendour 
among the unhappy natives. But the religious buildings of the 
Ceylonese were not only defaced and ruined by their barbarous 
invaders ; even the materials which composed them, the hewn 
stones and massy pillars, were transported to the sea-coasts to 
erect fortifications, and rivet those chains which were imposed, 
on their former worshippers.. 
