lete obedience. Then on the right, below the massive granite steps
which form the causeway, the water rushing from the sluice carries
fertility among a thousand fields, and countless laborers and cattle
till the ground: the sturdy buffaloes straining at the plough, the
women, laden with golden sheaves of corn and baskets of fruit, crowding
along the palm-shaded road winding toward the city, from whose gate a
countless throng are passing and returning. Behold the mighty city!
rising like a snow-white cloud from the broad margin of the waters.
The groves of cocoa-nuts and palms of every kind, grouped in the inner
gardens, throwing a cool shade upon the polished walls; the lofty
palaces towering among the stately areca trees, and the gilded domes
reflecting a blaze of light from the rays of a midday sun. Such let us
suppose the exterior of Pollanarua.

The gates are entered, and a broad street, straight as an arrow, lies
before us, shaded on either side by rows of palms. Here stand, on
either hand, the dwellings of the principal inhabitants, bordering the
wide space, which continues its straight and shady course for about
four miles in length. In the centre, standing in a spacious circle,
rises the great Dagoba, forming a grand coup d'oeil from the entrance
gate. Two hundred and sixty feet from the base the Dagoba rears its
lofty summit. Two circular terraces, each of some twenty feet in
height, rising one upon the other, with a width of fifty feet, and a
diameter at the base of about two hundred and fifty, from the step-like
platform upon which the Dagoba stands. These are ascended by broad
flights of steps, each terrace forming a circular promenade around the
Dagoba; the whole having the appearance of white marble, being covered
with polished stucco ornamented with figures in bas-relief. The Dagoba
is a solid mass of brickwork in the shape of a dome, which rises from
the upper terrace. The whole is covered with polished stucco, and
surmounted by a gilded spire standing upon a square pedestal of stucco,
highly ornamented with large figures, also in bas-relief; this pedestal
is a cube of about thirty feet, supporting the tall gilded spire, which
is surmounted by a golden umbrella.

Around the base of the Dagoba on the upper terrace are eight small
entrances with highly-ornamented exteriors. These are the doors to
eight similar chambers of about twelve feet square, in each of which is
a small altar and carved golden