IIG REPORT— 186G. 



gifts aud sacrifices. It is only of late years (since 1848) tliat Christianity has made 

 any progress, thougli it is more than a century since Greek priests were sent to 

 them. For the dead they have great reverence, and keep generally a figm'e of the 

 departed in their houses for nearly a j-ear. Their language belongs to the " Altai 

 group," of which the principal are the Fin, Turkish, Mongol, and Mandsu, and 

 amongst these it belongs to " Ugor subgroup," to which may be referred the 

 Szirjiin, Votjak, Mordviu, Hungarian, Osztjak, and Vogul (Mansci). In 1844, on 

 a territory of 3780 square miles, their number amounted to about 6.342. Under the 

 new rule they are rapidly decreasing in number ; and we are greatly indebted to 

 Anthony Reguly, a Hungarian traveller, who, since 1843, spent several years 

 amongst the Voguls, collecting from their oral tradition their sacred legends and 

 ancient history preserved only in songs. 



On the North-east Province of Madafjascar. 

 By Dr. Eyan, Bishop of Mauritius. 



The author narrated a visit which he had recently made to the province of 

 Vohimarina in north-east Madagascar, and gave numerous details of the harbours, 

 towns, productions, native tribes, and government of the various districts. The 

 province on the whole is raoimtainous, but possesses, along the courses of its nimie- 

 rons rivers, large and fertile valleys. The Betsimsaraka tribe was considered superior 

 to the dominant Hovas in many respects. They keep their houses clean and neat. 

 Many of them have beautifully fair countenances and a European cast of features. 



A Visit to the ruined Teminlcs of Camhodia. B)/ J. Thomson. 

 The author, in the month of January 18G6, arrived at Bangkok, the capit.al ot 

 Siam, with the purpose of visiting the ruined temples of Cambodia, making plans 

 and photogTaphing them. He proceeded easterly from that place through Sunsep 

 and Kanap to Kabin, the position of which town he determined by astronomical 

 observation to be in N. lat. 13° 5G', aud E. long. 101° 58' 1.5". He arrived at the 

 vast temple of Ongou on the 16th of February. The biuldings form a rectangle 

 1100 X 1080 yards, surrovmded by a ditch 250 varus wide. From its gxeat extent, 

 the bmlding appears to have been the work of generations ; but from its perfect 

 sj'mmetry and unity, the product of a single genius, ^vith the resources of a vast 

 empire at his disposal. The road to it is by a path through a luxuriant tropical 

 forest. A causewaj' conducts to a gallery or outer entrance 200 yards long. 

 Ascending the worn steps of this, a colossal statue of a lion, half buried in the 

 sand, guarded the entrance. The western gallery is supported by massive square 

 pillars. The pillared galleries of the temple rise tier above tier, terminating in a 

 great tower. The galleries have all sculptm'ed stone roofs ; the staircases, colon- 

 nades, and corridors are also all of sculptured stone, and the courts paved. The 

 ancient city of Ongou Thom, situated a little north of the temple, is of superior 

 antiquity to the temple, and exhibits more grotesque sculptures. But the architec- 

 ture of the temple is more classical, the pillars have all finely sculptured capitals 

 and bases. There is the same advance shown in the bas-relief of the two ruins ; 

 the chief of these are nearly 100 j&rds long, filled with figures of wan-iors, ele- 

 phants, horses, and chariots. The inscriptions, copied by the author, are of three 

 periods, the first of which are not now intelligible, but the last can be read by any 

 Cambodian priest ; these last, however, ha^e no reference to the origin of the ruins. 

 The present inhabitants have no tradition even of their origin, but believe they 

 were buUt by supernatural hands in a single night. In the courts are the remains 

 of reservoirs, which, as they lie at a great elevation above the suiTounding countrj^, 

 imply that the ancient Cambodians possessed a knowledge of hydraulics. The 

 stone of whicli the ruins are built must have been brought from the Lynchie 

 mountains, forty miles distant. The great lake of Cambodia, Tale-saj), lying a few 

 miles south of Ongou, ofl:ers the rare phenomenon of a large backwater to a river ; 

 it is filled only when the river Mekong is in flood. An outlet from the lake unites 

 ■with the Mekong, a few miles distant from the lake itself, aud the waters of the 

 river flow baclcwards up this channel to fill the lalce, the natm-al current being 

 driven back. The depth of the Tale-sap is thus raised from foui- feet to forty-fom* 



