Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/482

 406 FURTHER INDIA. BOOK VIII. days of its glory, it seems to have merited the title they bestowed upon it of the " Venice of the East," and the remains justify their eulogiums. Some of the buildings, however, seem to have been constructed of brick and wood; and as the city has now been practically deserted for more than a century, the wild fig-trees have everywhere inserted their roots into the masonry, and decay has progressed rapidly among the wooden erections. As described by recent visitors, nothing can be more wildly picturesque than this once splendid city, now overgrown with jungle ; but such a stage of decay is, of all conditions, the least favourable to the researches of the antiquary. Four- nereau, however, was able not only to measure and work out the plans of some twenty temples, which are illustrated in his work already referred to, but to classify and describe the various constructions found in the enclosures of the temple, giving them the local names, and thus throwing an entirely new light on Siamese architecture. Vat is the name given to the outer enclosure of a temple, which was always rectangular, and generally of greater length 473. Transverse section of the Bot of Vat Jai', Sukhodaya. than width. The enclosure walls were as a rule about 3 ft. thick, and from 12 to 14 ft. high. The most important building in the Vat was the Bot the sacred temple and usually the first built. This would seem to correspond with the Burmese Them, or ordination hall for priests, 1 but in Siam it was always included in the temple enclosures, where it stood opposite the principal 1 Sanskrit, Uposathti-g&ra, or Upasthdna-sdla. Ante, vol. i. pp. 213, 242.