276 Mr. E. Warington Smyth [Feb. 16, 



shapes in different parts of the country, and the monastery chapel 

 or chief building, in which the statue of Buddha sits sadly contempla- 

 tive in the cool lofty height of the great roof. At once the most 

 ancient, the most extensive, and the most magnificently executed of 

 the buildings of Indo-China are those which centre rouud the great 

 ruins of Angkor Wat and extend over an area of some twenty 

 square miles in the immediate neighbourhood of the great lake 

 of Cambodia. They consist of half-a-dozen main groups, most 

 of them many miles apart in the great Cambodian plain, but 

 which were, it appears, at one time mostly connected by stone cause- 

 ways which carried the roads above the flood levels of the surrounding 

 country, the remains of which still exist and are met with in unex- 

 pected places in the jungle. These groups consisted of cities, palaces 

 and temples ; and were built apparently between the sixth and tenth 

 centuries. The most remarkable and the most perfect of them all is 

 the great temple of Angkor, or Nakawn, Wat, which, for the gigantic 

 boldness of its design, the perfection of its workmanship, and the 

 delicacy of its detail, may well take rank as one of the greatest 

 buildings of the world. Of the Kmer, of whose high artistic taste 

 and architectural skill we have such remarkable evidence, very little 

 that is accurate is known, except that they came from India, advancing 

 into the country apparently by Hatien on the coast to the south-west 

 [where extensive fifth century ruins still exist] and gradually spread- 

 ing over the country further north even than Korat [15° N. Lat.]. 

 But the evidence of the buildings themselves goes to show that to- 

 wards the ninth century the decadence of the building race had set in 

 and that the advance north of Korat and into Anam occurred during 

 the period of decline. Originally professing Brahmanism, the evidence 

 shows that Buddhism was introduced probably in the period just fol- 

 lowing the culmination of its power. But what catastrophe actually 

 completed the ruin of the race, whether it was due to actual conquest, 

 or to gradual absorption and decay, are points on which a great deal 

 more light is wanted. Certainly, travelling in Cambodia, it is difficult 

 to believe that the present dull-witted, unenterprising and essentially 

 stupid Cambodians are the direct descendants of the highly intelligent 

 and tasteful building race which immigrated from India. These 

 buildings, it may be remarked, bear a distinct resemblance to the 

 great remains at Pagan in Upper Burmah, which were destroyed by 

 Kublai Khan in the thirteenth century — though the latter consist 

 entirely of brickwork, while the best portions of the Cambodian 

 remains are magnificently fitted sandstone blocks. And the architects 

 of Siam have gone to Cambodia for their models, as will be seen in 

 the great brick towns and the finest of the Buddhist remains at the old 

 cities of Ayuthia, Sawankalok, and elsewhere. But none have ever 

 rivalled Angkor Wat in one feature — that of its wonderful stone 

 roofing; which has preserved the building alike against the assaults 

 of the climate, and the insidious attacks of the roots of the peepui 

 [ficus indica] and other destructive trees. 



