As a result of this latter belief it became the custom to present robes to the priests in October and November, when the wet months were drawing to a close. King Pra Luang in his palace at Ayuthia, considered the custom, pronounced it good, and established it as part of the ordinary worship of the devout. When the proper season arrived, he set out himself to distribute robes to the inmates of the royal temple. Each temple provided a quantity of fireworks, and appointed responsible officers to superintend their pyrotechnical displays. In front of the landing of the king's palace, were gathered together numerous boats laden with baskets of food and yellow cloth. In the centre of each basket a stout branch was fixed, and from the branches lighted lanterns were suspended. At the bottom of every lantern trailed a strip of yellow silk, symbolical of the scraps that the old monks sought in desolate places. The boats also contained presents of many descriptions given by the king, the government officials, and the common people according to their wealth or their faith. In the evening, as soon as it was dark, the king came down to the bank of the river to examine the boats and their contents. He descended into his state barge, attended by his chief officers, and headed a long procession, accompanied by the chief ladies of the palace, and by crowds of people who had been drawn to the place by the prospect of seeing the fireworks. The boats, crowded by natives, drew after them the other boats containing the baskets of food and the piles of robes. Wherever the king stopped, presents of eatables and priestly garments were distributed to the brethren who resided in the temple, and fireworks were let off in honour of the sovereign's arrival, and as a mark of gratitude for his benevolence. At a later date, when temples became multiplied to such an extent that the king was unable to personally visit them all, he entrusted the distribution of the presents to his relatives, and officials of high rank. The custom of presenting robes at the end of the rainy season is now universally observed throughout the whole kingdom, and is looked upon as an excellent way of making merit, though, in common with all the other religious observances of the country, its primary meaning and origin are unknown to most of the worshippers.