Fa-Hsien's {.} {.}, "in this (country)," which I have expressed by "our," shows that whatever notes of this cremation he had taken at the time, the account in the text was composed after his return to China, and when he had the usages there in his mind and perhaps before his eyes.

This disposes of all difficulty occasioned by the "dragons" and "fishes." The {.} at the end is merely the concluding particle.
(4) The pyre served the purpose of a burial-ground or grave, and hence our author writes of it as such.
(5) This king must have been Maha-nana (A.D.

410-432).

In the time of his predecessor, Upatissa (A.D.

368-410), the pitakas were first translated into Singhalese.