XXI AUSTRALIAN AND POLYNESIAN RACES 481 



Among these are numerous low pyramids, often sur- 

 mounted with lofty towers, and a great variety of other 

 buildings now mostly in ruins. Other temples are of much 

 later date, and exhibit an architectural style which seems a 

 combination of Cambodian and Roman. 



The people who built these magnificent temples and 

 cities, and also made great lines of roads equal to those of 

 the Romans, with bridges which, in some cases, are still in 

 perfect preservation, are the Khmers, who still live in the 

 country and preserve their nationality, though surrounded 

 by Siamese, Chinese, and other Mongol races, and partly 

 intermixed with them. They possess an ancient literature, 

 and alone among the surrounding peoples have preserved 

 some of the artistic tastes and powers of their ancestors : 

 in painting, sculpture and music they stand high above 

 any people of Mongolian race. They have distinctly 

 Caucasian features, the hair black and often somewhat 

 curled or wavy, while in middle age they are often well 

 bearded though the beard is usually extirpated. They 

 are tall and well made, but are very dark in colour as 

 compared with the Siamese or even the Malays. The 

 modern Khmers do not build or carve in stone like their 

 ancestors, but they imitate the old designs very skilfully 

 in wood. Every article of furniture and all household 

 utensils are more or less ornamented with carved designs ; 

 boats, pagodas and houses are carved wherever there is 

 room for such decoration. They also make great figures 

 of gods or of Budha in masonry, wood, or bronze, 

 constructed in several pieces, and having the same general 

 characteristics as those of the old temples. 



The two portraits here given (Fig. 79) are copied from La 

 Eoyaume de Cambodge by J. Moura, and are stated to 

 be from photographs of two Cambodians, one being a 

 native doctor, and although very coarsely engraved they 

 well show the marked Caucasian features. In the Atlas 

 to Garnier s work there are some coloured portraits of these 

 people, as well as of savages from the forests and 

 mountains of the interior, which have even more 

 pronounced European features. It seems therefore not 

 improbable that the civilized Indan type, which invaded 



VOL. I. I I 



