Page:Report of a Tour Through the Bengal Provinces of Patna, Gaya, Mongir and Bhagalpur; The Santal Parganas, Manbhum, Singhbhum and Birbhum; Bankura, Raniganj, Bardwan and Hughli in 1872-73.djvu/21

Rh The main peak of Sailagiri is crowned by a heap of bricks, but I could see nothing to shew that a tope stood here; the portion now existing is an oblong running east and west, 20 feet long and 15 wide; the length could have been at some period greater, even up to 30 feet, but the width could never have been an inch more than the 15 feet it is now. To have made it wider would have necessitated the building up of gigantic revetments from an immense distance below, on the side of the hill, which here is so steep that no foundation for a revetment could have been got without going some 30 or 40 feet down where the steepness begins to moderate; that such an immense wall could have disappeared leaving not a trace is highly improbable.

If the building of which the ruins exist on the peak were a Vihar or temple, it must have faced east; the bricks are 11 × 15 × 2½ inches. I found not a single cut stone nor a single curved or wedge-shaped brick, and of moulded and cut bricks I found a very few, and all of the same pattern.

Between this peak and the next peak to its west is a low pass defended by a wall; the wall extends just so far on either side as is necessary for defensive purposes, and is not, as Mr. Broadley supposes, part of "the terrace" which "now becomes more broken, but its traces are visible up to the peak."