Evening star., 1926-06-06

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A"AT~vSU
OF dense iungles and neat villages
This put me i'll Prom PENN just in
time to meet 81 steamer from Saigon
sailing UP the river to AngkOr.
Again, in an effort to counterbal-
ance the notorious extravaganza.
was a decker" much to the disap-
proval of All English mother and hel
grown daughter. the only other white
passengers aboard. At sunset we en-
tered the Great Lake. at the far enc
of which Angkor lay.
Since early morning the wind had
been violent. and here In the open
water 1t howled about us with fresh
fury. At 3 am, with the rain pour
Ing in torrents, the two English
ladies and I We're awakened and told
C'est Angkor, ici.''
"Where?" the three OF us asked ir
weak voices as We looked out into
the raging night. and instead Of see
Ing Angkor saw that we were In the
middle of tossing lake with or C
miles to navigate in i0-foot
sampan.
"Oh. out there" the captain replied
waving his hand into the impene
trable void.
With our hearts in our mouths. the
three of us clambered down the lad
der and into the fragile plungine
dugout Crack, The lightning
blazed over our heads. Crash! The
storm hurled us against the steam
er's huh. Boom, Hiss. The waves
in Il food of cold water. almost
swept us out Of the tiny boat
The daughter screamed between
gasps for breath; the mother clung
to her. speechless with fright A
fresh swirl of rain. and our ship had
disappeared into the wilderness.
We had a boatman. but whether ne
was black, white or green We could
not see. No word came from him
In dead and desperate silence he
piled the single stern oar. fought oln
way yard hy ward through the dense
masses of floating water plant, un-
able to find his hand before his face
How he ever found his way to the
proper point on land is a mystery.
\ 4
WITH Thanksgiving for our de-
liverance from the sampan we
spIashed ashore, TO be met by an
archaic Ford--unescapable even in
these jungle wilds--with it's light
showing dimly through the rain. =
How far is the bungalow" | asked
the native French speaking chauf
feur. expecting to be told only few
steps.
"Twenty-five kilometers' miles
And the tourist bureau in Saigon
advertised that their river steamers
deposited one at "the very gates of
Angkor"i
Anskor -- tales of it's reputed
glories were rumbling in my ears
at Bangkok. Angkor the wind
and the jungle and the vast
gray cloud of stone roared at me
now as 1 hurried next morning to-
ward the mile-distant mystery:
Here is the superlative of industry.
ment. Here. here. is Angkor. the
first wonder of the world. and the
greatest mystery in history"
Jungle. jungle. for mile after mile
OF every side it smothered the earth.
dense. black, consuming--and from
out of il. unheralded and unbeliev-
able. rose the gigantic, the magical
temple with it's tier OH tier of gray
tapestried stone, acres of carving.
hundreds of delicately. wrought
windows. miles of galleries. great
lace towers--all powerful and beau
tifu1 and desolate beyond imagiria-
ton.
For lack Of a better name, history
calls the mysterious race that once
dwelt here the Khymers. Conjecture
founds their empire in the fourth
century and obliterates II in the
twelfth.
Except for miles and acres Of bas-
relief pictures Of battles and mythol-
ogy and common life carved on the
stones Of the 600 ruined public build.
ings found in the space once covered
by the Khymer capital, we should not
know one single thing about this race.
whose ability az artists and architects
has rarely been approached.
All during the latter half Of the
nineteenth century Angkor, the in
accessible. was left as 1t had been LETT
since 1900, at the mercy OF the ele'
ments and Inhabited by wild beasts.
In 1907 France. by treaty with
Siam, seized a large slice or the lat
ter's eastern forest wilderness that IN
cludes the site Of the ancient Khymer
capital. with it's Is square miles OF
magnificent ruins --- ruins Of palaces.
libraries, gates, walls and Angkor
Vat, the mighty temple.
Owing to the fact that 1t was the
latest and most ponderously built, 1t
stands today In all It's original glory,
while the other Khymer structures
have fallen prey to the gourmand
Jungle and the assaults OF time.
The Sianese, who are believed TO
have driven the Khymers from Ang-
kor Vat, insist 1t was built by divin.
tiles. because human being could not
have been powerful enough or In
spired enough to do it. You may not
be inclined to believe this legend from
seeing pictures or reading descr1p-
tions Of Angkor; you may not believe
that it took four generations OK con-
stant industry to complete, or that
kings ooinmandeered and kept occu-
pied 100000 slaves from their IL
provinces; but when you at last look
upon angxor in reality, you believe
anything.
Alone approached the entrance,
along a twelve-hundred-foot stone via
duct, 40 feet wide, that led across
what was once n lake.
- A. ASH4x