A religious establishment in Siam consists of several edifices and is generally known as Wăt[213], followed by some special designation such as Wăt Chang. Bangkok is full of such establishments mostly constructed on the banks of the river or canals. The entrance is usually guarded by gigantic and grotesque figures which are often lions, but at the Wăt Phô in Bangkok the tutelary demons are represented by curious caricatures of Europeans wearing tall hats. The gate leads into several courts opening out of one another and not arranged on any fixed plan. The first is sometimes surrounded by a colonnade in which are set a long line of the Buddha's eighty disciples. The most important building in a Wăt is known as Bỗt[214]. It has a colonnade of pillars outside and is surmounted by three or four roofs, not much raised one above the other, and bearing finials of a curious shape, said to represent a snake's head[215]. It is also marked off by a circuit of eight stones, cut in the shape of Bo-tree leaves, which constitute a sîmâ or boundary. It is in the Bỗt that ordinations and other acts of the Sangha are performed. Internally it is a hall: the walls are often covered with paintings and at the end there is always a sitting figure of the Buddha[216] forming the apex of a pyramid, the lower steps of which are decorated with smaller images and curious ornaments, such as clocks under glass cases. Siamese images of the Buddha generally represent him as crowned by a long flame-like ornament called Sĩrô rồt[217], probably representing the light supposed to issue from the prominence on his head. But the ornament sometimes becomes a veritable crown terminating in a spire, as do those worn by the kings of Camboja and Siam. On the left and right of the Buddha often stand figures of Phra: Môkha: la (Moggalâna) and Phra: Sárĩbŭt (Sâriputta). It is stated that the Siamese pray to them as saints and that the former is invoked to heal broken limbs[218]. The Buddha when represented in frescoes is robed in red but his face and hands are of gold. Besides the Bỗt a Wăt contains one or more wĩháns. The word is derived from _Vihâra_ but has come to mean an image-house. The wĩháns are halls not unlike the Bỗts but smaller. In a large Wăt there is usually one containing a gigantic recumbent image of the Buddha and they sometimes shelter Indian deities such as Yama.