The Ordway new era., 1922-07-07
Stairway of the Central Tower, Anskor Wat.


fprepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. d. C3
Rivaling in inaccessibility our cliff
dwellings in the Southwest, but guard
ed by tropical yerdure rather than by
desert sands, France has, tucked away
In the dense forests of Indo-China,
some of the most extensive and most
magnificent ruins in the world. They
are the great temples and other build
ings of the Khmers, race about
which little is now known, though in
scriptions abound and await the work
of some clever declpherer.
Outside of the Siamese and Cnmbo-
dians, very few people have heard of
Angkor, or know that such a nation
as the Khmers ever lived, conquered,
worked, and perished from the face of
the earth. In America even now it is
doubtful if there are many who have
heard of Angkor Tom and Angkor
Wat so completely have these splen-
did ruins been hidden in the Cambodi-
an Jungle and kept from civilization by
natural barriers.
Up to recent years not many travel
ers ever visited Angkor. and some of
those who did never returned to tell
the story, for the country has been
from time immemorial inhospitable to
strangers. 1t is said that the Romans
sent an envoy in the time of its great
est activity. The Chinese have from
| time to time sent envoys and made
| treaties, and have left the earliest de-
scriptions so far discovered and de-
clphered. Marco Polo mentioned the
place. but did not see it.
Journey Up the Mekong.
One visiting IndO-China naturally
goes first to Saigon, capital and chief
port, and it is from there that the
Journey to the forest-inclosed ruins
will begin. A railroad journey of III
miles takes the traveller to the end of
the line at Mytho. From this point
the journey is up the broad Mekong
river by steamboat for the next "a
hours; and you are not sorry when it
Is ended. either, for the accommoda-
lions are anything but luxurious.
The Mekong is one of the worlds
greatest streams; 1t Is the one great
river of the peninsula of IndO- China.
A sheet of yellow water a mile or so
wide, fringed with coconut and arica
palms; some banyans. bananas and a
tangle of Llama vines; an occasional
bird or two, Il native sampan, Chi
nese junk; patches of rice and acres
of swamp land; no hills In sight to
relieve the monotony-such is the WIS.,
ia of the first days journey which
| nt
capital of Cambodia.
An attractive little place Is Pnom
PENN, with well-paved streets-it takes
the French to make roads and keep
them good-a gentle monsoon to cool
the air; few characteristic buildings
of the Cambodian royalty, suggesting
"a general flavor of mild decay; a
pagoda with silver-plated floor and
an absent-mlnded looking Buddha made
out of glass, attended by priestess
clad in gold and glittering with dia-
monds; library without book in
1t; procession of Buddhist priests in
bright yellow robes; natives in bright
colored silks and cottons and, above
all, the "Pnom" itself, a structure
erected as monument and possessing
some lines of beauty that more than
atone for its grotesque features.
AT Pnom PENN one may go by water
up a tributary Of the Mekong, or he
may roll by motor over good French
built road to Kompong Chang on the
shores of the queer lake, Tonle Sap.
This body Of water is natural over
flow basin for the Mekong. In the
rainy season it becomes 90 feet deep
In some places, but during the dry Pc
riod 1t is little more than a sea of
mud
A launch takes one acres the 7O-mile-
long lake, though this modern craft
cannot come close to shore and must
be boarded and left by sampan. One
transfers to his sampan apparently
far out In the lake, distant line of
trees marking what he supposes is the
shore. But the discovery Is made be-
fore long that the line of trees Is not
the shore but the edge of submerged
forest.
Grandeur Of the Ruins.
The first glimpse one gets of the
ruins Is when rounded tower appears
through the trees a mile or SO distant,
Just moment, and then no more till
you are there. 1t Is AngkOr Wat, the
most recent. the best preserved, the
most classic and ornate Of them all
though not the largest. There are