Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-04-08
BURIED IN JUNGLE
Tropic Growth Overwhelmed City
of Angker Thorn.
Devastation Wrought. Especially by
the Deadly Fig Tree, Is So
Complete as to Be Almost
Unbelievable.

In the heart of Cambodia. one Of the
five provinces of French IndO-Chna.
lie the ruins of the royal city Of Ang-
kor Thorn, built somewhere between
the fifth and seventh centuries, and Of
the marvellous temple, AngkOr Wat.
The architecture, which is Hindu. Is
being disentangled from jungle growths
by French psychologists. The city and
temple are thought to have been built
by The Khmers, a long-vahished, race
which certainly has no. connection with
the Cambodians of the present day.
Writing In Harper's. Ellen N. La
Motto describes trip through the
jungle on an elephant In order to visit
one of the more remote ruins
I'm about ten minutes" she writes,
'we found ourselves climbing over the
fallen stones of an immense temple
that iay completely buried and over
grown by the forest. So thick was the
foiinge that only a dim twilight pre-
vailed. The supreme loneliness of that
buried temple, the utter isolation and
silence that envel0ped It. were appal-
ling. and our scrambiing feet and
husl,ed voices only intensified the aw-
full stiiiness-the silence of centuries.
"The horror and vindietiveness Of
the Jungle! Everywhere giant stones
were 0verthrown. pushed out Of place
and toppled over In heaps through the
sinister vitality of that deadly tree. the
AZ tree of the ruins. The roots Of
this tree begin as innocent, shairlike
filaments which insinuate themselves
through the crevices of the great
stones and slip through tiny openings
and cracks, then grow and develop
with an evil vigor that nothing can
withstand. They never die. never are
starved out, these fine. hairlike roots.
The big stones never crush or XIII
them. Year by year. century by CEN
fury. their fierce strong life Is fostered
by the fierce heat md fierce rains of
the tropics until they overthrow and
destroy everything In their pathway.
One fearful root that wandered In its
course through whole corridor or
mighty carvings was 80 tsmeters In
length, with the circumference"of an
elephant. And the tree isAuseiess.a too
just spongy, porous wood. Unfit for
anything.
"For an hour we wandered through
dim. ruined chambers. scrambled and
climbed over fallen pillars and cary.
ings of great beauty and delicate. In.
trfeate designAall In utter ruin and
the fig tree Of destruction In supreme
control. II wastgood to reacharour
elephants again fand tesdeave behind
that overwhelmed and evil spot.
~only the most important and beau
tiful ruins are being reclaimed from
hpofmest. those In Angkor Thorn as
we'll as the Angkor Wat. These out
lying ones are still left as originally
discovered, buried and smothered by
the everlasting forest. To me they are
far more Interesting inathisv sitiister
setting. ehoked sand swaiDped shy CHE
mighty growth Of the fropieap iungfe.
They afford more thrills tome wh0'am
not nm archeoIogist than the picked
SID. restored and cleared ruins that
Tho government Is reclaiHiing.
''0f course. one cannot see them very
wei these buried temples. swamped
In mdergrowth. enveloped by a twi-
Hight gloom. And as scramble over
fallen images. over barbaric scuIp-
inres my mind Is. largely set on SER
penis. And when we reach fairly
open space IT turns to monkeys-the
agile black gibbons that boot and leap
overhead at our coming. furious ct ths