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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."—

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