But a Siamese wat is not merely a place of worship; most of all it is a monastery. You will find it worth while to glance at the dormitories of the priests. There are often several hundred inmates in a large wat. The ordinary priests and novitiates have usually rows of little cells, almost bare of furniture except the coverlets and pillows and mosquito-nets for sleeping. In others there are neat whitewashed brick buildings scattered around the grounds, putting you in mind of little English cottages. The houses of the abbot and prior are larger. If you call, possibly their apartments may not seem in accord with the primitive simplicity enjoined by the rules of their order on Buddhist priests. Some head-priests now-a-days have foreign furniture, pictures, clocks and other _articles de luxe_, and pride themselves on owning a fairly representative modern library and scientific instruments. Properly, a Buddhist monk possesses in his own right eight articles――viz. three robes, a girdle, an alms-bowl, a razor, a needle and a water-strainer, this last that he may not unwittingly in drinking destroy animal life. All other articles accepted in charity are supposed to be received on behalf of the chapter. The Siamese monk must observe strict celibacy, refrain from all secular avocations and eat no solid food after the sun has passed the meridian. Priests are easily recognized by their yellow robes and shaven heads. In going about they usually feign indifference to all temporal concerns by walking with measured pace, apparently noticing nothing. There is no hereditary priesthood. Any male enters a wat at his pleasure, and leaves it without reproach to return to secular life: if married, however, he must be divorced before entering. Every man is expected to spend more or less time in the priesthood, and according to law no one can serve the government until he has done so. Little boys are put into the wats as pupils at a very early age (for each wat is more or less of a public school), and when they have learned to read and write they are ready to put on the yellow robes; so they grow up to manhood, and often to middle age, amid surroundings only calculated to make them idle and frequently vicious men.