The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-07-28

traction or the diligent pupils of Hin
du teachers. That about sums up the
available information concerning them.
There is mention in Chinese records
of kingdom under Hindu direction
IL not domination, in Indo-China as
early as the year 238 Of our era, and
there Is evidence that the Khmers
were still f1ourishing in the Thirteenth
and possibly in the early Fourteenth
centuries; but, strangely enough, their
civilization. wonderful as it was, made
little impress on the neighboring ma
tons.
1t seems impossible that a culture
such as that which built the pyramid
of Angkor Vat could have persisted
without a word of it's demise reach
ing the civilizations with which it
must have been in constant touch.
But such appears to have been the
case.
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 commercial
traffic on the Mekong river north of
Pnompenh for the reason that Cam
bodia's resources, the same resources
that had given this region possible
identity as the Golden Chersonese of
legend, were as deeply carpeted with
useless verdure as the hidden cities
of the north.
Pnompenh. the capital of the Kingdom
of Cambodia (western portion of the
Undo Chinese peninsula). was village
of nipa thatch and bamboo, comic
opera metropolis. where a despot ruled
in fear of his life over a semi-savage,
If not completely savage, people.
Early Stories Not Believed.
Saigon, the present capital of French
enterprise in the East, was just rising
from the marshes south of AMMAN.
What might lice hidden in the masses
of foliage to the north no one knew.
The world had heard, but had forgot
ten, the tales of Portuguese mission
aries of the Seventeenth century, that
marvellous cities with leaping towers
stood dead among the trees of the
Tonic Sap. Wherever there Is unex-
plored territory one is certain to hear
of such cities, and the world had
grown too wise and too skeptical to
pay attention to such nonsense.
True, there had been Chinese trav
eler, Tcheou-Ta-Quan by name. who
had written what purported to be
chronicle of his service as ambassa-
dor to some kingdom in the Mekong
valley. 1t was conceded that the
writer might actually have had some
such service. but it was obvious that
in his description of the marvels he
had found in his dubious kingdom
he was merely a pleasant liar.
If the Cambodians were to be con
sidered as ths heritors of these theo-
retical grandeurs. then the lie stood
proved; for tie world had seen some
thing Of Pnompenh. the one aspira-
ton of Cambodia toward civilization.
and Pnompenb seemed to be a good
deal like every other jungle town on
the face of the earth.
What the Ruins Are Like.
The name Atgkor has been some
what loosely applied to the ruins.
There are two principal groups: Ang-
kor Vat, the temple and Angkor Thorn.
the town. The word Angkor is be-
lieved to be a native corruption of
the Sanskrit Niagara, meaning capital.
Thorn is a local word, meaning great
or grand. Vat IL an appellation des-
ignating a temple and is generally as
ISOLATED with Buddhism.
Angkor Vat was the last important
work of the Khn,ers and remains to-
day the finest expression of their pc
culiar art. Built as a shrine to Hindu
gods and apparently devoted to Wish
nu, silva, and Byddha in turn, It has
departed a long distance from the
parent architecture of the Hindus. 1t
is a step pyramid which rises through
three clustered stages to a group of
five miterlike towers, of which the
one In the center is dominant.
The temple area is about quarter
of mile square and is surrounded by
a moat and a high wall. A causeway
crosses the moat and strikes through a
gate pierced in the middle of the west
ern wall. whence it leads to the por-
tico of the first stage. The lower
galleries measure nearly $50 feet on
a side. The facade is five times as
wide as that of Notre Dame of Paris.
About two-thirds of mile to the
north of the temple one comes to the
wall of Angkor Thorn. where the sew
en-headed Maya, legendary deity of
the Khmers, is upheld in the arms Of
stone giants to form balustrade for
the entering causeway. Access to the
old capital is through tower. from
each of the faces of which a head of
silva the Destroyer leers down upon
the world.
1t is one of the most pretentious
capitals of antiquity. Its walls, most
Of which are intact today. measure
nearly two miles on a side, and II
contained a temple. the Bayon. which
was almost as large as Angkor Vat.