Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c8.s2.8

c8.s2.8

The actual leaves of the book are rarely ornamented. The full stops, however, are sometimes rubricated, and the small space around the string-hole, which is liable to become frayed and should not be written upon, has also occasionally some decoration in red. Books of magic, such as *Bali* songs, charms and spells, are illustrated wlth pictures of demons, diagrams, etc., in plain black; but only such as can be scratched with the style upon the leaf. Horoscopes are written on full-length strips of leaf and are elaborately ornamented with geometrical decoration similarly incised. Letters were sent on strips of ola, neatly folded, and bound with narrow strips of ola, passing once or several times round, in accordance with etiquette, as given in a verse current in the pansalas: