Evening star., 1928-03-26
SEEK OTHER CITIES
GREAT AS ANGKOR
ArCheoIogistS Vision VaSter
Ruins as Cambodian
Jungle Opens.
BY ROBERT J. CASEY.

Correspondence of Tho Star and The Chi
Cago Daily News Copyright, 1928
ANCHOR. Cambodia, December IS.
The quest for buried cities once more
has become the principal occupation of
Indo-China. with plentiful evidence
that the jungles to the north are full
OF them.
The building Of the automobile road
from Phnom PENN to Angkor has given
this local industry the greatest impetus
it has known since the bamboo was
pulled aside to reveal the magnihcence
of the capital of the Khmers Angkor
was found 60 years ago and carefully
studied by scientists who translated its
Sanskrit tablets and reconstructed
something OF the history of the race
that had built 1t.
But not until five years ago was
there a suspicion that Angkor might
be merely one Of a number Of cities
I'm one vast metropolitan area Not
until two years ago was there any evil
dcnce that the Khmers who settled the
valley Of the Mekong in the sixth CEN
tury might have carried their influence
much farther south than Angkor Wat.
So Temples Discovered.
In the last few months So temples
have been located near Kampong
Thorn, a town that was virtually in
accessible until the automobile road
was put through and the Jungle cleared.
The cutting of q trail through the
forests from Kamp0ng Thorn to an
iron mine a hundred miles to the north
has made possible the exploration OF
ruins which at first we're supposed to
be merely the remains of isolated tenn
pies and now appear TO be city fairly
intact and hardly less impressive than
Angkor What will come Of these dis
coverics--what light they will cast on
the little known history Of Asia-is a
subject on which the French archie
ologists are silent but hopeful.
Stone tablets engraved in Sanskrit
characters have been found at SAM
bour, and already there is a testimony
of familiar architecture TO show that
the Khmers did not derive all of their
culture from the Brahmans Of India
and that their ancestry may conceiva-
bly, lead back 10 Babylon.
Once the local scientists were con-
tent TO measure the towers Of Angkor
Wat. to comment on its oddly contrived
vaults and to reconstruct from this
skeleton of masonry the living body of
a mysterious people. Up to the present
moment all that is known Of the Kah
mers has been derived from en- untir-
ing inspection of Angkor.
Vision other ANCHORS.
The beauty of Angkor Wat. Its Law
ich ornament and massive construction,
seemed evidence enough that there
could not be another like IL. Thoroughly
convinced Of this. explorers looked up
another field Now they are unwilling
to commit themselves to a statement
that there may not be other ANCHORS
imbedded In the bamboo beyond the
high tide of cultivation that comes to
an end with the automobile road.
There is a growing belief that the
million souls who lived in AngkOr Thorn
were only a fraction Of the population
Of the fertile empire Of the Khmers.
Other millions planted transplanted
and harvested their rice along the
rivers of the Mekong basin, still other
millions dwelt on the coast Of the Gulf
OF Siam and were maritime group
presumably with plenty Of ports and
a well established trade throughout the
East
And where these other millions dwelt
there must have been other important
hlndstght observation. mas
much as the remains OF the cities came
To light before the existence Of their
supporting populations was suspected.
other Discoveries Likely.
Within the next six months the
world may learn tht the lion and the
lizard have been driven from the
thresholds Of other monuments scarce
~ less impressive than Angkor Wat
Expeditions are already beating the
iungles along trails of carved stone and
kiln-dried brick Already the buildings