village, about six miles inward from the sea-coast
village of Kesinde. Here the natives brought us plantains and buffalo
milk, while we took shelter from the sun under a splendid tamarind tree.
Opposite to this was a 'bo'-tree; *(very similar to the banian-tree)
this grew to an extraordinary size; the wide spreading branches covered
about half an acre of ground, and the trunk measured upwards of forty
feet in circumference. The tamarind-tree was nearly the same size; and
I never saw together two such magnificent specimens of vegetation. A
few paces from this spot, a lake of about four miles' circuit lay in the
centre of a plain; this was surrounded by open forests and jungles, all
of which looked like good covers for game. Skirting the opposite banks
of the lake, we pitched the tent under some shady trees upon a fine
level sward. By this time it was nearly dusk, and I had barely time to
stroll out and kill a peacock for dinner before night set in.

The next morning, having been joined by my friend, Mr. P. Braybrook,
then government agent of this district, our party was increased to
three, and seeing no traces of elephants in this neighbourhood, we
determined to proceed to a place called Wihare-welle, about six miles
farther inland.

Our route now lay along a broad causeway of solid masonry. On either
side of this road, stone pillars of about twelve feet in height stood in
broken, rows, and lay scattered in every direction through the jungle.
Ruined dagobas and temples jutted their rugged summits above the
tree-tops, and many lines of stone columns stood in parallel rows,
the ancient supports of buildings of a similar character to those
of Pollanarua and Anarajahpoora. We were among the ruins of ancient
Mahagam. One of the ruined buildings had apparently rested upon
seventy-two pillars. These were still erect, standing in six lines of
twelve columns; every stone appeared to be about fourteen feet high by
two feet square and twenty-five feet apart. This building must therefore
have formed an oblong of 300 feet by 150. Many of the granite blocks
were covered with rough carving; large flights of steps, now irregular
from the inequality of the ground, were scattered here and there; and
the general appearance of the ruins was similar to that of Pollanarua,
but of smaller extent. The stone causeway which passed through the ruins
was about two miles in length, being for the most part overgrown with
low jungle and prickly cact