tanks was conducted from the distant mountains, through
dense forests, across broad ravines, and around the sides of
intervening hills, by stout channel-ways miles and miles in length. No
considerable population could have been supported in a country
subject to prolonged droughts without the aid of some such fertilizing
agency, and no other system would have been so well adapted to the
raising of the staple grain of the island. Most of these artificial
lakes are now in ruins, overgrown with jungle grass, and in some
instances by heavy forests.

No one can truly say what caused the decadence of the several ancient
capitals now lying in the dust, leaving only a blank memorial of their
former existence. It is a puzzling question as to what could have
swept a population of millions from the face of the globe and left no
clearer record of their occupancy and departure. When there is pointed
out to the traveler in Japan a location where a big and populous city
once stood, but which is now only a series of thrifty grain-fields, no
great surprise is felt. Japanese houses are only constructed, as a
rule, of bamboo frames with tissue coverings, but the ruined cities of
Ceylon were built of stone and brick, presumedly indestructible except
by some great and general catastrophe. The ruins of Anuradhapura show
that in mediaeval times it must have been a city containing a vast
concourse of people. We know that it was recognized as the capital of
Ceylon from three to four hundred years prior to the birth of Christ
down to the year 770 of the present era. It has been justly called the
Palmyra of Ceylon, and was contemporary with Babylon and Nineveh. It
was a royal city, wherein ninety kings reigned in succession, and its
dimensions exceeded the present area of London. What a grand and
imperial metropolis it must have been in its pristine glory! At a time
when England was still in a condition of barbarism, this capital of an
island in the Indian Ocean was at the zenith of its prosperity,
enjoying luxuries which argued a high condition of civilization. The
reason for selecting this plain in the heart of the country as a
suitable location for its capital is not obvious, except that from the
earliest ages the spot has been sacred to the votaries of Buddha. Its
site is near the centre of the great plain which occupies the northern
portion of the island, about one hundred miles from Kandy, and three
hundred feet above the level of the sea.