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JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
of which their best statues are formed. The 
richly carved wood of the doors, windows, and 
roofs of the Siamese temples constitutes their 
best ornament. In the Burman temples there 
is nothing comparable to it. While the Siamese 
are spacious buildings, open, diversified, and 
richly ornamented within, the majority of the 
modern temples of Ava are but solid masses of 
brick and mortar, presenting nothing but a mere 
exterior to gratify curiosity. I may take this 
opportunity of observing, that the Burman 
priests seem to be less numerous than those of 
Siam : it is not to be inferred from this, how¬ 
ever, that the Burmans are less pious- than their 
neighbours. This fact, and the inferiority of 
the temples, is to be accounted for by the reli¬ 
gious charity of the two people being somewhat 
differently directed. For every temple in Siam 
there seemed to be twenty in Ava. None but 
the rich and powerful build temples in the first, 
and the inferior classes are satisfied with mak¬ 
ing contributions to the edifices constructed by 
their superiors. Here, therefore, large temples 
only are constructed. In Ava every petty chief 
builds his own temple, and deems this, and not 
the endowment of monasteries, the principal 
road to salvation. In Siam, a monastery is a 
necessary appendage to a temple. In Ava, the 
