Evening star., 1928-02-13
2U|Ns0f OLD CITY
FOUND|N UNCLES
v.'riter Describes Visit to
CrurroIing Temple Tc"-
ers in Cambodia.


French lndo-China. Robert J. Casey
h2niorlst. author ana writer fer The
Star and the Chicago Daily News visited
the ruins Of a city that vas cnce IN
h b!teG by million people. IT Is doubs
tul if more than one other White man
a French archeologist-haS ever been
near the ruins. and 1t is certain tha'
few white men have visited the GiStric'
within living memory.
The world has already heard much
@. Anssor Wat. the beautiful tempe
in Csmbodia that was almost buried
beneath the jungle growth until 1t was
uncovered by the French. Scientists
have suspected the presence OF oshei
su,u runs III the district. but IL re-
rla4ned iur Fob Casey. with MS URGE 70
sec strange places and his nStnctlVe
"ncSs for news" TO penetrate at IeaS1
one CT the prime secrets Of the Cam
bcolan jungle.
Twelve hundred years ago a race OF
rcop.e KNOWN as the khmerS. supposed
IL Ct Hindu origin. moved south INTO
what is now lnoo-China. They deyel-
onso a great civilization For 700 years
they conquered the jungle, built temples
ana beautiful cities Then some olSaSteT
occurreG--ScientiSts say about llUo AID
and the khnlerS disappeared. either
defeated i'll war or completely annlhil-
steo by plague They left only their
cities. and these were soon covered by
the jungle
Describes Lone Adventure.
Ti,s story OF his lone adventure into
urnsapped forests has been written. But
v,th admirable n,odesty, Mr.. Casey
has left untouched many OF the oetaliS
of his personal adventures and hard
ships during his explorations. 1t is
or1iy in letters 10 friends III Chlcago
that he has revealed the persona! sloe
@. the narrative and in one OF these
letters. dated. December IS, he says:
i came out here convinced mat
there were other towns scattered ABOUT
tn, jungles 10 the north OF Anskor
Wat. the old capital OF the khn1ers.
That point is proved have been in
one ruin where not more than I'VE
LIVING men have ever been. and ! dare
say rate as Christopher Columbus TO
some Of the temple areas in that same
vicinity.
L am now laid up here tSingapore)
with al infected foot as result OF tnat
exepedition. and thought once that
the good old jungle would finish me.
Bu. / believe that the hardship. such
ss i was. was mere than JUSTIFIED by
the results.
If you loos at the map of Cambo-
c.a YOU may or may not see spot,
i2o kllometers to the east Of Angkof.
marked .Prah Khan The presence O.
the name there means little or nothing.
There is no road 10 that point. The
location Of the dot is merely guess
based upon descriptions furnished uy
native hunters and also upon the re-
port of a French archaeologist who
made a hurried trip up there. The
name ln the local dialect means fort
and is derived from a legend that the
Knn,ers had strong point somewhere
IN that region.
Learns Of 1t from Native.
A native at Pnom Penh told me
About Il. He had been working with
the Freich engineers building road
from Kampong Thorn TO an iron mine
80 mises north and had heard the
story from coolies hired as graders and
voodchoppers. He said that the new
road would take me pretty close TO
Prah Khan and with luck I might get
through the rest Of the way.
Fortunately, there was some topo-
graphical data Prah Khan is at the
junction of two dry washes which IN
the yet season are rivers. And the
course OF one Of these is fairly well
I vent up there. / had 10 60 II alone
because the native guides we're afraid
g: tigers and elephants. ] had 10 chart
ny course with guessworK map and a
compass. And had TO fight my way
sfoot through 26 miles OF bamboo tan
gle. snake grass and swamp. ] had 70
choose between my camera fpluS 500
feet Of nlmb and supply OF water. and
took chance on the camera. That
was what spilled the beans. have
been considerable Of wreck ever since
Well ! got there. saw the re-
ported ruins still covered with trees
and vines and tansle. And / wen,
or following yubble Of carved stone
chunks brought down by the creek
t1-ee miles farther on into the brush
70 the fnoat that surrounds this un-
named town. So fer as can de-
fermine from the reports Of archae-
oicrasis no white man ever vent in
that FAR before. The archaeolog:sts
csepiy bound up in the work Of res
cu2ns Angkor. put OF the complete
examination Of the PYsh Khan dis
tr.ct
Appears City Of Million.
The town I saw seems 70 be- sbou,
the area Of Angkor Thorn. which vas
city CT a million inhabitants II
has q temple nearly the same size a.
Angkor Wat anc 70 NE twice as i'm.
p-csGiTe.
knc here is the point Of il Nobody
knows what Is IN there. The temple
treasures may still be in the passages
snc the legendary emerald Buddhs
which you hear about ali over the East
may have been taken there. To my no.
ton the greatest story of the century
lies there II those galleries. now barred
by the jungle. don't suppose III ever
get another KICK Ike The one / got
when saw those towers sticking uc
cper the trees
i am keyin2 ali ~ this down III the
sborses I have written partly because
the interest lies Ia the WORK of thf
Kan1s!s ard no. IN the somewhat fCoi.
1n expedition o! one linguistic reporter
Saved BY Jungle Folk.
I Collapsed three times irving u
fnc my way out of ne place and
oy4ce was revived by bQncn % Jungle
EEf3Iets VINO were m clothes ard
actec a. !. they nac never SEN h white
man oefose. ny throat WAS swollet.
- that cyQit rsgt eat for three days:
my shoulders were black anc blue from
the weight ~ tne camera and my ifgs
we're skinned ~ The knees Also, as
mentioned, my feet were pulp and
for mat matter st.!l are
Win these c,rcVnstantlsI details
eDoDli, fDe storY ~ Pfah Knan anc
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