carved and heavily gilded—an art in which the Siamese have considerable skill. The large square room within is ornamented with painted paper representing scenes taken from Buddhist mythology or horrible mediæval-like pictures of their inferno, or series of hells.
Entering this building, you see an altar, generally eight or ten shelves high, tapering to a gilded point. It contains many-sized figures of Buddha in the sitting posture, together with a gaudy display of wax candles, incense-tapers, gold and silver tinsel ornaments, offerings of fruit and flowers. Possibly some priests in yellow robes, with burning candles, are chanting monotonous liturgies; more probably, however, no priests are seen, but only people coming and going with gifts to this dead god Buddha. Step nearer. Do not fear to disturb their devotions. Instead of the decorum usual in Christian churches, the votaries are social, and even noisy—one moment prostrate before the altar, the next singing an idle song. Men smoking, women mixing freely with the crowd, neither veiled nor shy. They are the most assiduous in the religious performances, going about sprinkling the images with perfumes and offering oblations of lighted incense-rods, fresh lotus and other flowers, chaplets or artificial flowers, fruits, and clothes of various descriptions. Children three years old go through with their prostrations
