sacred objects to the king, adorned with the highest skill of their art, as the most acceptable gift they can offer.  The sacred footprint enters into the very essence of the Buddhist religion; it claims from the Indo-Chinese nations a degree of veneration scarcely yielding to that which they pay to Buddha himself.  It is very ancient, and was framed to embody in one grand symbol a complete system of theology and theogony, which has been gradually forgotten or perverted by succeeding ages to the purposes of a ridiculous superstition.  It is elaborately carved and painted with numerous symbols, each of which has a profound significance.  The liturgy of the Siamese connected with it consists of fifty measured lines of eight syllables each, and contains the names of a hundred and eight distinct symbolical objects,—­such as the lion, the elephant, the sun and moon in their cars drawn by oxen, the horse, the serpents, the spiral building, the tree, the six spheres, the five lakes, and the altar—­all of which are represented on the foot.  This list of symbolical allusions is recited by the priests, and forms an essential part of the ritual of worship.  The Siamese priests say that any mortal about to arrive at the threshold of Nivana has his feet emblazoned spontaneously with all the symbols to be seen on the Phrabat.

The Siamese acknowledge only five genuine Phrabats made by the actual feet of Buddha.  They are called the Five Impressions of the Divine Foot.  The first is on a rock on the coast of the peninsula of Malacca, where, beside the mark of Buddha’s foot, there is also one of a dog’s foot, which is much venerated by the natives.  The second Phrabat is on the Golden Mountain, the hill with the holy footstep of Buddha, in Siam, which Buddha visited on one occasion.  The impression is that of the right foot, and is covered with a maradop, a pyramidal canopy supported by gilded pilasters.  The hollow of the footstep is generally filled with water, which the devotee sprinkles over his body to wash away the stain of his sin.  The third Phrabat is on a hill on the banks of the Jumna, in the midst of an extensive and deep forest, which spreads over broken ranges of hills.  The Phrabat is on a raised terrace, like that on which most of the Buddhist temples are built.  The pyramidal structure which shelters it is of hewn stone ninety feet high, and is like the baldacchino of a Roman Catholic church.  There are four impressions on different terraces, each rising above the other, corresponding to the four descents of the deity.  The fourth Phrabat is also on the banks of the Jumna.  But the fifth and most celebrated of all is the print of the sacred foot on the top of the Amala Sri Pada, or Adam’s Peak, in Ceylon.  On the highest point of this hill there is a pagoda-like building, supported on slender pillars, and open on every side to the winds.  Underneath this canopy, in the centre of a huge mass of gneiss and hornblende, forming the living rock, there is the rude outline of a gigantic foot about five feet long, and of proportionate breadth.