The Fayette falcon. (Somerville, Tenn.) 190?-current, 1920-04-02
BURIED IN JUNGLI
Tropic Growth Overwhelmed CT
Of Angker Thorn.
Devastation Wrought. Especially
the Deadly Fig Tree, Is So
Complete as to BE Almost
Unbelievable.

In the heart of Cambodla. one of 4
five provinces of French Indo-Chii
lie the ruins of the royal city of Al
kor Thorn. built somewhere betwe
the fifth and seventh centuries. and 3
the marvellous temple, Angkor W.
The architecture, which is Hindu.
being disentangled from jungle growt
by French Psychologists, The city
temple nre thought TO have been bu
by the Khmers, a long-vanished ri
which certainly has no connection wi
the Cambodians of the present day.
Writing In Harper's, Ellen N.
Motto describes a trip through Z
jungle on an elephant In order to viz
one of the more remote ruins.
"In about ten minutes" she WRITE
1--WE found ourselves climbing over {
fallen stones of an immense temp
that lay completely buried and owe
grown by the forest. So thick was q
foliage that only a dim twilight pE
vailed. The supreme loneliness OF til
buried temple, the utter isolation a
silence that enveloped 1t, were apps
ling. and our scrambling feet a
hushed voices only intensified the
full stillness--the silence Of centurif
"The horror and vindictiyeness
the junglei Everywhere giant stons
were overthrow, pushed out Of pla
and toppled over In heaps through Il
sinister vitality of that deadly tree, Il
fig tree of the ruins. The roots
this tree begin as innocent, hairllt
fllaments which inslnuate themselv
through the crevices of the gre
stones and slip through tiny openin
and cracks, then grow and devel{
with an evil vigor that nothing Cd
withstand, They never die, never al
starved out. these fine, hairlike root
The big stones never crush or ks
them. Year by year. century by Gel
fury, their fierce strong life Is foster9
by the fierce heat and fierce rains
the tropics until they overthrow ar
destroy everything in their pathwa
One fearful root that wandered In
course through a whole corridor
mighty carvings was 80 meters
length, with the circumference of 4
elephant. And the tree is useless, Il
just spongy. porous wood, unfit Il
anything.
"For an hour we wandered throui
dim, ruined chambers, scrambled an
climbed over fallen pillars and car
ings of great beauty and delicate, II
tricate design--all In utter ruin an
the fig tree of destruction In suprenE
control 1t was good to reach OF
elephants again and TO leave benin
that overwhelmed and evil spot. =
"Only the most important and bea
tiful ruins are being reclaimed frot
the forest. those in Angkor Thom,t s
well as the Angkor Wat. These on
lying ones are still left as original
discovered, buried and smothered u
the everlasting forest To me they Of
far more interesting In this siniste
setting, choked and swamped by III
mighty growth of the tropical jungl
They afford more thrills to me who
not an archeologist than the pickle
up. restored and cleared ruins this
the government Is reclaimlng.
"Of course, one cannot see them verl
WELL these buried temples, swampe
In underground. enveloped by twt
light gloom. And as ] scramble ovd
fallen images, over barbaric sculr
lures, my mind is largely set on Sc
penis. And when we reach n fairl
open space 1t turns to monkeys-th
agile black gibbons that boot and leaI
overhead at our coming, furious at th
upon their solitude. Betwee|
snakes and monkeys there are time
when | forget to admire these oil
temples. supposed to be among Ii
most marvellous In the world"
g,Ts