We, however, got on very well together, sipped our tea, nibbled at biscuits, smoked cigars, drew the usual map with matches on the table, and haggled over the lie of the country. I thus managed to extend my knowledge of the geography of the State—the more so as he frequently explained himself in Shan, and I was beginning to understand much of the language used on such occasions, although still very weak in the power of expressing myself. Then I endeavoured to explain the use of my surveying instruments, and showed him the sketches I had made during the journey, and he seemed to be much interested. Whether interested or not, the visit under the circumstances was evidently rare fun to him; and he was pleased as a schoolboy would be when I presented him with a watch and a few other articles. Zimmé may be said to be a city of temples and monasteries, and has no less than eighty temples within its walls and suburbs, which were mostly built during the Burmese _régime_. The monasteries are built in the Burmese style, and consist of a hall divided into two portions: one part level with the verandah, where the scholars are taught; and the other part, where the monks receive their visitors, two feet above the level of the rest of the building. When the monastery is a large one, cloisters serving as dormitories, and separated by a central passage, surround two or three sides of the hall. In smaller buildings the monks sleep in the hall, and their beds may be seen rolled up, with those of the acolytes and schoolboys, round their pillows against the wall. In the porch of one of the buildings, I noticed fresco-paintings illustrating the Jataka of Naymee picturing the punishments in the Buddhist hells for various sins. People were being thrown by black torturers into the fire, and thrust down with pitchforks; one man was being bled by a huge leech; another, fastened upright between two posts, was being sawn in two, whilst a dog was at the same time gnawing at him; three people, with their elbows fastened behind and their legs in chains, were being led by a black demon or jailer to punishment; and there were many other fearful sights. When the monasteries are built of teak, the posts are sometimes of large girth, and the floor is raised 8 or 10 feet above the ground. If the staircase leading up to the broad verandah is of plastered brickwork, the parapets are sometimes coped with great _nagas_ or dragons, or otherwise ornamented and finished off at the foot with images of ogres, _rachasis_, or other fabulous animals. If the staircase is of wood, the sides, like many other parts of the building, are generally beautifully and fantastically carved with mythological beings intertwined in the scroll-work.