s leading up to it, and a number of statues and
monuments within the enclosure. I remarked the leaves, which were
constantly moving, like our own aspen. Its leaves were heart-shaped,
with long attenuated points, and were attached to the stems by the most
slender stalks. I had no difficulty in recognising it as one of the
sacred bo-trees of the Buddhists. The great bo-tree of Ceylon was
planted B.C. 288 years. It is, consequently, at the present time,
upwards of 2150 years old. I also at once guessed that the old man was
a Buddhist priest, the guardian of the tree, and of a little temple
close at hand, built apparently out of the ruins which lay scattered
around.

To show that he was hospitably inclined, he placed before me a dish of
rice mixed with sugar and honey, which I thought very nice; as also some
mangoes, and several other fruits, of which I was not sorry to partake,
as the not over-well cooked repasts of tough birds and buffalo flesh, on
which I had subsisted for the last two days, had made me wish for
vegetable diet.

Having partaken of all that the old man set before me, I signified that
I was anxious to commence my journey, the hottest time of the day having
now passed away. He understood me, and, taking a long staff in his
hand, he led the way, Solon and I following close behind him. He had
gone on some distance, when he stopped before a vast number of granite
columns fully twelve feet high, standing thickly together like the trees
of a forest. I do not exaggerate when I say that there were hundreds of
them, covering an immense extent of ground. The old man pointed at
them, then, sighing deeply, on he went. I afterwards learned that these
pillars are the remains of a vast monastery for Buddhist priests, built
by King Dutugaimunu one hundred and sixty years before Christ. It
obtained the name of the Brazen Palace, on account of it having been
roofed with plates of brass. It was raised on sixteen hundred columns
of granite twelve feet high, which were arranged in lines of forty in
each, so that it covered an area of upwards of two hundred and twenty
square feet. The structure which rested on these columns was nine
stories in height. It contained a thousand dormitories for priests, as
well as halls and other apartments for their exercise and accommodation.

"All these apartments were ornamented with beads which glittered like
gems. The roof of the chief hall was supported by pillars of gold,