A precisely similar arrangement of stairs exists on the four faces of the Abhayagiri and Jetawana dagobas, to that shown in the two Woodcuts Nos. 98, 99, and consists first of a plain base, above which is a frieze of elephants’ heads with pateræ between them, very like those used in the metopes of the Roman Doric order; above this are three plain faces divided by ornamental string courses. Then a bracket cornice with pateræ again, and above this two or three more cornices. Above this there was probably a parapet simulating a Buddhist rail. At each end of this projecting arrangement were two stelæ--at the Ruanwelli the inner covered by a foliaged pattern, the outer by a seven-headed Naga, as will be observed in the Woodcut No. 99; at the Abhayagiri, the inner stele is adorned with a pattern so nearly identical with that on the pillars of the western gateway at Sanchi,[233] that we have no difficulty in recognising them as belonging to about the same age; though this one, of course, is the older of the two (B.C. 104). On the other stele in this tope (Woodcut No. 100), we recognise the shield, the Swastica, the trisul, the conch (of Vishnu?) and all the other Buddhist emblems with which we are already familiar. The Naga here has a stele of his own and detached from the other two. [Illustration: 99. View of Frontispiece of Stairs, Ruanwelli Dagoba. (From a Photograph.)] All this is architecturally so unlike anything we find of the same age on the continent of India, while its sculptured details are so nearly identical, that, when we come to know more about it, these differences and similarities may lead to most important inferences; but we must at present wait for the requisite information to enable us to see the bearing of these peculiarities. Besides these four large buildings there are two smaller ones, known as the Thuparamaya and Lankaramaya, very similar to one [Illustration: 100. Stelæ at the end of Stairs, Abhayagiri Dagoba. (From a Photograph.)] [Illustration: 101. Thuparamaya Tope. (From an unpublished Lithograph by the late James Prinsep.)]