The Coolidge examiner., 1933-07-28

up the available information cor
cerning them.
There is mention in Chinese rec
ords Of a kingdom under Hindu di
rection II not domination. in Indo
China as early as the year 23S o
our era, and there is evidence tha
the Khmers were still fiourishing II
the Thirteenth and possibly tn,
early Fourteenth centuries; but
strangely enough, their civilization
wonderful as 1t was, made little i'm
press on the nelghborlng nations.
Two generations ago the modern
world had never heard of Angkor
A dense forest spread across Indo
China. French trade was confined
TO the coast, and there was no com
mercial traffic on the Mekong rive
north of Pnompenh for the reasor
that Cambodian resources, the same
resources that had given this re
gion a possible identity as the Gold
en- Chersonese of legend. were as
deeply carpeted with useless yer
dure as the hidden cities of the
north.
Pnompenh, the capital Of the King
dom Of Cambodia (western portion
of the Indo-Chinese peninsula), was
a village of nipa thatch and BAN.
boo, comic-opera metropolis, where
a despot ruled in fear Of his life
over a semi-savage, IL not complete.
ly savage, people.
Saigon, the present capital OF
French enterprise In the East, was
just rising from the marshes south
OF AMMAN. What might lie hidden
in the masses Of foliage to the north
no one knew. The world had heard.
but had forgotten. the tales of Port
ugese missionaries of the Seven
teenth century. that marvellous cit.
les with leaping towers stood dead
among the trees of the Tonle Sap.
True, there had been a Chinese
traveller, Tcheou-Ta-Quan by name,
who had written what purported to
be chronicle of his service as am
bassador to some kingdom in the
Mekong valley. 1t was conceded
that the writer might actually have
had some such service, but ii was
obvious that in his description OF
the marvels he had found in his
dubious kingdom he was merely a
pleasant liar.
What the Ruins Are Like.
The name Angkor has been some
what loosely applied to the ruins.
There are two principal groups
Angkor Vat. the temple and Angkor
Thom, the town. The word Angkor
is believed to be a native corruption
of the Sanskrit Niagara. meaning
capital. Thorn is a local word, mean.
ing great or grand. Vat is an ap-
pellation designating a temple and
is generally associated with Bud.
dhiSm.
Angkor Vat was the last irlpor.
tant work of the Khmers and re.
mains today the finest expression OF
their peculiar art. Built as a shrine
to Hindu gods and apparently de
voted to Vishnu, silva, and Buddha
in turn, it has departed a long dis
tance from the parent architecture
Of the Hindus. 1t is a step pyra.
mid which rises through three clois
tered stages to a group of five miter
like towers, of which the one in the
center is dominant.
The temple area is about a quar-
ter of a mile square and is sur
rounded by a moat and a high wall
A causeway crosses the moat anC
strikes through a gate pierced in
the middle of the western wall
whence it leads to the portico of the
first stage. The lower galleries
measure nearly $50 feet on a side
The facade is five times as wide a:
that of Notre Dame of Paris.
About two-thirds of mile to the
north of the temple one comes Il
the wall of AngkOr Thom, where the
seven-headed Naga, legendary deity
of the Khmers, is upheld in the arm:
of stone giants to form a balustradt
for the entering causeway. Acces:
to the old capital is through tower
from each of the faces of which s
head of silva the Destroyer leer:
down upon the world.
1t is one of the most pretentiou:
capitals of antiquity. It's walls, mos
of which are intact today, measure
nearly two miles on side. and i
contained a temple, the Bayon
which was almost as large as Ang
kor Vat.