THE BURIED CITIES.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 4 December 1914, Page 4

THE BURIED CITIES.

(By REV. E. F. WADDY.)

An Australian visiting Ceylon cannot but be impressed by the antiquity and historical romance of much that he comes across there. In. his own country ho can point to no monument dating back more than a century, whilst in Ceylon the age of everything is counted by the thousand years instead of the hundred. One explanation of the giant footprint on Adam's Peak takes him back to the very beginning of the World's history, and if he is sceptical about accepting this, he is on surer ground when he visits Galle, where for thousands of years the merchants of the world have come to trade, and if. to-day the harbour of Galle is deserted for that of Colombo, it is practically certain that Galle is the site of the ancient Tarshish, from which Solomon drew many of his treasures. If something more recent is wanted, Galle again provides it, for the old Dutch fort still stands as it was built three centuries ago, and its walls, in some parts at least 70 feet thick, still testify to the solid nature of all the work the Dutch did in Ceylon. But what arouses the greatest interest are the buried cities. Built about HOO B.C. for centuries they | have been deserted, and their ruins overrun by jungle, but within the last 30 years the Government of Ceylon has done much to clear and restore them, and now the tourist can see in comfort the ruins of a L-ity, which over two thousand years ago was the largest and most magnificent city in the world. And yet to 99 people out of a hundred Anuradhapiara, Mehintale, and Polonnaruwa are unknovrti names. Situated about a hundred miles north, and inland from Colombo, Anuradhapura. can be reached by train in a few hours. Everywhere are the ruins of the old city, and in their midst a modern native village. Eight miles away is the hill of Mehintale, where Buddhism was first preached in Ceylon by the prince missionary Mihinda. The Cingalese king and people were at once converted, and in honour of the new religion sprang up the numeryus dagobas which are still there, and at Anuradhapura. Leading up to Mihinda's tomb is a flight of Over one thousand eight hundred steps, some cut out of the solid rock of the hillside, the rest .slabs of solid granite. Everywhere are ruins of temples and baths, and at the tqv & large dagoba of solid

granite rising from the floor to the surface. But for the Buddhist, the most revered thing in Anuradhapura is the sacred . 80-tree. A branch of the original 80-tree under which Gotama sat and meditated was brought to Ceylon from India, and planted there some three centuries 8.C., and has flourished there ever since. Surrounded by an outer and inner wall, it has always been zealously guarded, and there is every reason to believe that the tree in the inside enclosure, with its three branches carefully propped up, and festooned with Buddhist emblems is the original tree. It is recognised as the oldest kno vn tree in. the world. There are innumerable ruins in and around Anuradhapura, which command interest—the rock temple of Isurumuniya, the remains of the Brazen Palace, which once contained 900 rooms, shrines, and carvings— enough to keep one occupied for weeks, but even a day or two among these ruins helps one to realise that there are still many things we moderns have to learn, for it would tax the skill and ingenuity of our architects and engineers, and the wealth of our Empire to reproduce Anuradhapura. in its glory. —"Sydney Herald."