An Illustrated Guide To The Buried Cities Of Ceylon

The author reveals that the Ceylon is becoming increasingly popular with tourists, and many of them very welcome visitors endeavour to see something of the Buried Cities. These lie amid the jungles of the northern plains somewhat removed from the civilisation of Colombo and Kandy. The result of a hurried visit is invariably a bad attack of ?antique indigestion?. This small guide to the ruins is intended to give the traveller an opportunity of acquiring the main historical and archaeological facts at their leisure. The book is written in 1932, when a great number of tourist were visiting Ceylon, the book was went to give a short account of the many ruins found all over Ceylon. It describes ruins in all parts of Ceylon. For the greater part of the year the climate of the Buried Cities is uncomfortably hot. The rainfall of Anuradhapura is some fifty inches per annum, but most of this falls during the northeast monsoon between October and January, known locally as the fever season. It remains but to state the sources from which the materials of this book have been derived. Chief among these is the old Buddhist chronicle, the Mahawansa, and its sequel, the Ciilamvarasa. This history of the great kings of the Lion Race was written in Pali in the 5th century A.D. by a monk Mahanama, ?for? the serene joy and emotion of the pious. The book contains numerous illustrations and three maps to make it more interesting.