Vol. XXIII, No. 3 
WASHINGTON 
March, 1912 
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©(SI^AIPIEIK 
ACSAM 
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THE FORGOTTEN RUINS OF INDO-CHINA 
The Most Profusely and Richly Carved Group of Buildings 
in the World 
By Jacob E. Conner 
Ame;rican Consul at St. Petersburg; Formerly American Consul at 
Saigon, Cambodia 
OUTSIDE of the Siamese and 
Cambodians, very few people 
have heard of Angkor, or know 
that such a nation as the Khmers ever 
Hved, conquered, worked, and perished 
from the face of the earth. In America, 
even now it is doubtful if there are many 
who have heard of Angkor Tom and 
Angkor Wat, so completely have these 
splendid ruins been hidden in the Cam- 
bodian jungle and kept from civilization 
by natural barriers. 
Up to recent years not many travelers 
ever visited Angkor, and some of those 
who did never returned to tell the story, 
for the country has been from time im- 
memorial inhospitable to strangers. It is 
said that the Romans sent an envoy in 
the time of its greatest activity. The 
Chinese have from time to time sent en- 
voys and made treaties, and have left 
the earliest descriptions so far discov- 
ered and deciphered. Marco Polo men- 
tioned the place, but did not see it. 
The Dutch, in the i6th century, sent 
an ambassador, and the natives assassi- 
nated him. Later the Portuguese and 
Spanish visited them ; but the country 
remained a mysterious and forbidden 
land, the thrall of Siam for many years. 
Then the French came, in the middle of 
the last century, and the geographical 
limits of the protectorate of Cambodia 
have been but recently defined. 
During the long centuries of their iso- 
lation and seclusion, these buildings have 
remained in an unusual state of preser- 
vation. And still they keep their secret, 
in spite of all the books and treatises that 
have been written, for the language of 
their builders is undeciphered. But if 
the mystery of their origin appeals to 
the imagination and spurs the archeolo- 
gist to solve their riddle, the artist and 
the architect will be no less interested 
when the beauty of their structure and 
decorative detail are laid before them ; 
and these, fortunately, need no inter- 
preter. 
There are no roads to Angkor- — none 
but a wretched bullock-cart road, begin- 
ning at the river, some three or four 
miles away, and ending at the ruins. 
From the outside world there is no feasi- 
ble means of approach except by water, 
and this is attended with some difficulty. 
An effective barrier is stretched across 
the way in the shape of a shallow lake. 
At the close of the rainy season, say 
from October 15 to December 15, this 
lake is deep enough to be navigable by 
steamboats. Under favorable conditions 
