their faces, and
they bow repeatedly before marching on again. Let us go and find out
what it was that stopped them. We soon come to it and find that it is
the seated figure of a man with one hand falling over his knee and the
other on his lap, while his legs are crossed tailor-wise. It is painted
white and it is not very much larger than life. This is Buddha, of whom
you heard in Kandy, and all over here, and in Burma, and in a less
degree in India, you will find images of him set up to remind his
followers of the precepts he left for them to follow.

Our driver is dead asleep under a tree, but we manage to wake him and
soon we are rattling along a tree-shaded road in the queer little cart
to Ruanveli, the best known of all the dagobas. When we arrive in full
view of it we dismiss the driver and climb on to a slab of stone that is
raised from the ground and tilted slightly like a table with two legs
higher than the others. Here we can gaze upon this extraordinary
monument which rises about one hundred and fifty feet into the air, and
is about two and a half times as much across, just the shape of a
pudding basin, you see. It is not a temple, not even a tomb, as the
Pyramids are, but a solid block built of millions and millions of bricks
with a tiny chamber inside containing an infinitely precious relic,
nothing less than a few of Buddha's hairs. So they say! Only the priests
were allowed to go into this sacred chamber, with the exception of one
king, who had this priceless privilege granted to him. It is not very
many years since mighty monuments were rediscovered, because the jungle
had grown up all around them and no one knew even where Anuradhapura had
stood; but now there are men who spend their whole time uncovering and
preserving them, just as many men are working at the excavations in
Egypt; and the trees and overgrowth have been stripped from Ruanveli,
which stands forth sharp and clear-cut against this beautiful sky.

Men are very much alike all the world over! This great dagoba was put up
by one of the Cingalese kings, Dutugemunu, to celebrate his great
victory over the Tamils, just as Rameses II. put up the inimitable
temple of Abu Simbel to celebrate his victory over the Syrians. Before
Dutugemunu came to the throne the Tamils had usurped all power and made
one of their own men, called Elala, king, and the young prince, exiled
from his capital city, met them in battle outside the walls. He fought
with gre