304: A visit to Xiengmai. [No. 4 
than two miles and a half in length, including the suburb to the south- 
west. ‘The number of inhabitants amounts probably to 50,000, of whom 
5,000 are able to bear arms: such a contingent force was furnished to 
Prince Krom Lluang Wongsa in his late attack upon Chiangtung. 
The streets of the city have originally been laid out at right angles. 
Time it seems has worked changes with regard to their regularity ; 
nevertheless I have not seen any other Siamese city, laid out appar- 
ently so regularly at its foundation, as Xiengmai appears to have been. 
The habitations are seldom, if ever, placed so as to front the street ; 
they stand some distance back. In their structure they do not differ 
materially from such as I saw in the other Lao towns: however 
those of the high nobility are not surrounded with walls as in Lakong, 
to prevent any vulgar prying on what is going on within. 
There are numerous Wats in the city, but none can vie in extent 
or appearance with Wat Luang in Lamboon. At some of the Wats I 
noted the peculiar towerlets or Phratshedees. The number of these 
isolated towerleis is large; they not only surround the city, but 
extend for a mile or more beyond it, principally to the west. I have 
already remarked that they are the topes of Buddhist architecture, 
erected to commemorate some of the actions of the last Buddha, when 
wandering upon our globe, promulgating his doctrines. I doubt that 
they contain relics. ‘“‘ We pray to Gaudama on passing a Phratshedee,” 
an intelligent person told me, “ they are built in memory of him and 
his divine acts, and some of his doctrines are written there on tablets.” 
These remarkable towers are only cased with stone-work and filled up 
with the soil from near to the place where they stand. I judge so from 
two or three instances where the stone casing had given way so as to 
expose the interior mass. Half way up the height of the tower, seen 
from outside, is a belt or string course—sometimes the space is divided 
and there are two ; and at about 30 to 40 fest above the base, rises the 
dome, crowned by a fee with narrow blind windows, terminating in a 
spire consisting of from 5 to 7 umbrellas or disks, each decreasing in 
size until the spire ends in a sharp point, ornamented with small bells, 
that tinkle when they are moved by the wind. Only in a few instances 
the domes have retained their termination perfect: owing to neglect 
of the requisite repairs, they are mostly broken off. 
The nature and object of topes at Xiengmai, the only place where 
I have seen them in Siam, not connected with Wats or forming parts 
