TWO FRAGMENTS. 
47 
Therein are bills and swords and arrows and shields and images 
painted upon the walls like fierce men.” Knox goes on to state that 
when they are sick they dedicate a red cock to the devils. This is 
held with an arrow by the priest, who thus dedicates it to the god, 
and on the recovery of the sick man the cock is sacrificed. 
The priest is able to become possessed by the god or devil and 
make oracular statements by holding the weapons on his shoulders. 
According to this account, the weapons do not however, appear to 
be votive offerings. 
Last September I climbed up the hill scarps above Padiyapelella 
to a small dewale built under a rock high on the hillside. There are 
two dewalas, an upper and a lower, in the village of Idampitiya near 
Maturata, Central Province. These dewalas are on the north side 
of the valley of the Belihul-oya, one near the cart road, and the 
other more difficult of access some 500 feet higher. The upper one 
was the first visited. It is called the Galapita kovila alias Okanda- 
gala dewale. It was built of mud on a small rock platform under a 
partially excavated rock, a fallen block from the cliff scarp above. 
The entrance was by a small double door of Kandyan type, only 
fastened by a stick thrust through the handle. The lintel of the 
door was roughly carved with simple lotus and diaper pattern. 
On entering, the side of the small room opposite the door and the 
greater part of the two adjacent walls were seen to be crowded with 
weapons and various implements in extraordinary variety. These 
were standing in small compartments or bins raised about four feet 
from the ground, built of masonry. There were seventeen of these 
bins, the centre one of which, beneath the image of the god rudely 
painted on a wood panel covered with folding doors, was about twice 
the size of the others. It contained upwards of 150 of the weapons. 
There were arrows of various shapes, many like the broad ceremonial 
arrow of the Veddas ; some of bo-leaf shape, among which many had 
dangling bo-leaves attached. There were also some “ katties,” a 
small new brass one, with bo-leaf dangling from point, also tiny 
elephant goads. They were set upright in their shafts. Some of 
the latter were lacquered, but most of them were plain. Many of the 
objects were only toy things, and all, I think, had been made specially 
for the purpose. A round wooden shield was over the door ; and in 
one of the other bins there was a small bronze shield. 
The lower dewale was situated down the hill above the vihara, and 
was similarly built. It contained a similar assortment of votive 
weapons, about 200 in number, arranged in seventeen divisions on 
high stools called “ putuwa,” with roughly carved scrolls on the 
sides. The centre one under the main god (roughly painted on an 
oval fan-shaped piece of wood), had comparatively few weapons, but 
large and fine, including an arrow with a piece of money tied to it. 
The other sixteen chairs were for the attendant deities, and contained 
the greater number of the offerings. Among these there was a fine 
