The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-07-26


. tho pelladia of tho race carried tn.
royal power with It, a power which wai
! not personal but objective, ss discretely
J go as the power to rule the dim which
passed from man to man as holder OF
he signet ring Of Solomon In the foll
lore OF a nearer East
, Shortly before the plot Of the keeper
or the garden OF savory cucumbers
there was King whose name has not
been handed down. A man had adopt ed
In his early youth the profession of
arms and had welded the daughter
OF his King. She, more mindful of her
husband than Of her royal father
hlched the sacred sword, tho golden
hilted preah khant, took II to her hus-
band and II made him King. The de-
throned King had a son whom this theft
or the sacred sword removed from the
line OF succession. He conspired
against the now King, his brother in
law. The King caught him in his trea-
son, Topped Off his toes, which. accord
ing to the law of the land. effectually
debarred from the throne, just as the
shearing OF their locks did for the Nero
vingians; finally he shut him up in a
dungeon.
AT later period we find the palladia
once more engaged in the affairs Of
Cambodia. At just about the time when
Columbus was sailing west In search
or Just such Indies as these the rebel
Sdach Kan was defeating the army Of
his King and driving II beyond the
frontier into Siam. In the hasty flight
down the River Sen the chief Of the
Brahmans had the palladia In his
charge. this sacred sword, the Ave
tutelary divinitles OF the realm, the
sacred bow with It's arrows, and the
Lompeng ebay or lance OF the preced-
Ing tale. Unwilling to carry these en-
blems OF Khmer sovereignty within the
power OF Slam. he landed with a single
| domestic, crossed the whole kingdom
secretly, arrived at the province OF Bait
and there hid the sacred objects in the
hollow trunk OF an almond tree.
The rebel was In power for some six
teen years, but was finally overthrow
by the son of his rightful sovereign. On
the restoration the new prince ruled but
did not reign; he could not he King
until the sacred objects of his kngship
were revealed. No one knew where they
had been deposited. the Brahman Preah
| Eysey-phat and his servant had died
and left no word except that the treas
ure was in an almond tree In the
province Of Bait. Not for forty years
were they discovered and not until that
time wa the victorious monarch
crowned King.
The sacred sword gave solemn warn
| ing two relgns later, when the presence
Of Spaniards and Portuguese in the
| kingdom foreshadowed a new order OF
] thfnua A x,iAt
/ the people, one OF that sort Of nervous
obsession which is the forerunner Of
great catastrophes and which affects
the crowd. The story was current that
water had ceased to flow in the holy
spring OF Banont and that the basin
into which II fell had suddenly evapo-
rated and now was plain to view. a
thing which had never been known.
| Another story ran that the presh khant,
the sacred sword was foul with rust
and all the efforts of its sanity keep
ers to wash it clean had proved vain.
The sacred sword and the brass beg
ging bowl. the silk parasol and the yell
low robe these were never widely sep
arated. From the palace to the mon
astery, from the King in his magnifi-
cence to the mend!cant begging dole OF
rice, Il was but the step across the
street Even the white elephant can be-
come a tedum on the hands; more than
one OF these monarchs found happiness
in the yellow robe OF the bonze. To the
King upon his many parasolled throne
came the thought:
No. you won't 'eed nothin' elss
But them spicy garlic smells
An the sunshine an the palm trees an the
tiukly temple bells.
Many King took the step across the
street, but none was more a shuttlecock
between throne and monks cell than the
great King Chey-ChGttha ", who
began his reign in 1875. When he had
been on the throne for fourteen years
this King, in pursuance of a vow made
in the recovery from the smallpox. as
Sumed the yellow robe for a week. on
returning to the throne he was conse-
Grated lord. eminent victorious and
glorious god" Then came an inter-
regnum while he and his sprlghtly
young aunt On the guise OF pilgrims
wandered from shrine to shrine. In the
course OF a few months ne returned to
the cares OF state and reigned until 1895.
This time his abdcaton was meant to
be final, he transferred the rule to his
H'pll'W anu went DhCh 10 lHe religious
life. IL was only for ten months, how
ever. for the nephew died, and Chey-
Ch9ttha was recalled from the monas-
terry for yet "A third reign. 1t would be
tedious to recount all the chops and
changes of this impermanent monarch.
who in the course of his 90 years was
five times King, and always embraced
the opportunity to escape from the pal
ace to the pagoda: a mighty man at the
head OF his armies, he was never so
content as when armed with nothing
but his brass begging bowl.
This volume does far more than give
a calendar OF the many Kings of Cam
bodia, with the names OF a few OF the
more prominent Queens OF each, thereto
adding the names Of the great man
darins and the outcome of the several
battles which have marked the sue
ceedlng reigns. No one can read this |
record of one of the oldest races of the |
East in the same way that he reads the |
history of England. and sees the logic |
swelling from Magma Charta to the |
laws against mortmain, from the Con-
situations of Clarendon to the Declara-
ton and Bill of Rights Whoever essays |
to read the history OF any land of the |