The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-07-07
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stairway of the Central Tower, Angkor Wat.

PREPARED by the National Geographic ,
Society, Washington, II. CO
RivaliDg in inaccesSibility Il cliff
dwellings, iii the Southwest, but guard
cd by tropical verdure rather than by
desert sands, France has, tucked away
In the dense forests Of IndO-China.
some uf the most extensive and most
magnificent ruins in the world. They
are the great temples and other build
ings Of the Khmers, a race abcut
which little is now known, though in
scriptions abound and await the work
Of some clever d~eciphcrer.
Outside Of the Siamesp and Cambo-
dams, very few people have heard of
Angkor. OF know that such Il nation
as the KhmerS ever lived, conquered,
worked, and persisted 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 SPLEEN
did ruins been hidden in the Cumbodi-
en- 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 inhOSpitabie 10
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 ENJOYS and made
; <rootinc and hoN-a lnft tho nnrlinct do
scriptiOnS so far discovered and Ge-
ciphered. Marco Polo mentioned the
place, but did not see if.
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 A
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 hen 1T
IS ended, either, for the accommodate
tons are anything but luxurious.
The Mekong is enc of the worlds
greatest streams; it is he one great
river Of the peninsula Of Indo-China.
A sheet Of yellow water q mile or S 20
vide. fringed with coconut and africa
palms; some banyans, bananas, and q
tangle Of Llama vines; an occasional
bird or two, Il native Sampan, q 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
lands YOU AZ Pnom PENN, the modern
capital of Cambodia.
An attractive little place is Prom
PENN. with %well-paved streets-it takes
the French to make roads and keep
them good-a gentle monsoon TO cool
the air; q few characteristic buildings
of the Cambodian royalty, suggesting
"a general flavor of mild decay; a
nacoda with Il silver-plated floor and
an absent-minded looking Buddha made
out of glass, attended by Il priestess
clad in gold and glittering with dia-
monds: q library" without a book in
it: a procession of BudGiIist priests III
bright yellow robes; nQ.,ves in bright
colored silks and cot! rns and, above
all. the "pnom'' i,34lf, a structure
erected as q monument and possessing
some lines of beauty that more thar
atone for its grotesQue features.
At Prom PENN one may go by water
m n tributary Of the Mekong, or he
NAV roll by motor over Il good French
built road to Kompong Chang on the
shores of the queer lake, ROME sap.
This body Of water Is a natural over
flow basin for the Mekong. In the
rainy season il becomes 60 feet deep
IN some places, but during the dry pc
Rod il is little more than a sea OF
mud.
A launch takes one acres the 1O-mile
Tong lake, though this modern craft
copnot come close to shore and must
he boarded and left by sampan. One
transfers to his sampan apparently
far ont In the lake, n distant line or
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 a Submerged
forest.
Grandeur Of the Ruins.
The first glimpse n gets OF the
ruins is when a rounded tower appears
trough the trees a mile or 50 distant.
lust a moment, and then no more I'LL
YOU are there. 1t is Angkor Wat, the
most recent. the best preserved, the
most classic and ornate Of them all,
] ,honrh not the largest. There arc