THE WATS OF SIAM.
"On the pagoda-spire
The bells are swinging,
With their little golden circlets in a flutter
With tales the wooing winds have dared to utter,
Till all are ringing
As if a choir
Of golden-nested birds in heaven were singing;
And with a lulling sound
The music floats around,
And drops like balm into the drowsy ear."—Mrs. Judson.
A Siamese wat, instead of a single lofty pagoda,
as often represented in the pictures of
Burmah, consists of a number of buildings scattered
about a large park-like enclosure. Let us
in imagination visit such a Buddhist temple connected
with a monastery—say, one of the largest
to be found in any part of the world—in Bangkok.
Starting on such an expedition, at the entrance of the enclosure, generally near the boat-*landing on the river, you would find a large garden or rest-house, called by the Burmese zayat and by the Siamese sala. This sala is made up of two or three open pavilions, according to the size of the wat, erected as lounging-places for the
