In contrast to his friend Narai, however, who received ambassadors with great pomp, wore splendid and elaborate vestments and enjoyed the use of the finest foreign luxuries—velvets and rich Persian carpets, Sourigna Vongsa wore no crowns, and preferred sitting on reed mats. Though the mats of Lan Xang, were evidently more beautiful than they are today; de Marini writes of them, for example, that "the weaving is so delicate and the ornamentation with patterns and various leaf-works so well done that, in my opinion, there is nothing more beautiful and more pleasing to the eye;" it is apparent from the accounts of the foreign visitors that the great king lived a far from decadent life. Rather, they noted that he distributed his wealth in the service of religion.