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280 SIAM.
Ceylon, dagoba, is a solid building of m-asonry, without
aperture or inlet of any sort, however large it may be.
It is generally built in the neighbourhood of some
temple, but is not itself an object or a place of worship,
being always distinct from the temple itself. In its
origin, it would appear to have been sepulchral, and
destined to commemorate either the death of Buddha,
or his translation into heaven. Even at the present
time, these ornamental buildings are thought to con-
tain some relic of Buddha. This one in particular
makes a light and handsome appearance: the lower
part consists of a series of dodecahedral terraces, diminishing
gradually to nearly one half of the whole
height, where they are succeeded by a handsome spire,
fluted longitudinally, and ornamented with numerous
circular mouldings. The minor ornaments are nume-
rous, and towards the summit there is a small globe
of glass. The total height would appear to be about
250 feet from the ground. Minor edifices of this sort
are common in every temple. They are in general
raised upon a base of twelve sides, but sometimes of
eighteen."
Mr. Finlayson describes a temple which they visited,
at a short distance from the hall of audience, a pyramidal
structure, its point terminating in a slender
spire about 200 feet high. The interior is a lofty
chamber, nearly fifty feet square, paved with stones.
In the centre were placed, on irregular stages, count-
less images of Buddha, intermixed with bits of looking-
glass, scraps of gilded paper, and Chinese paintings:
the whole was surmounted with a figure of Buddha,
about a foot and a half high, of some sort of stone,
as a sepulchral shrine, and in their form, the pyramid and the
dagoba seem to coincide.