National Geographic: Glories Of Angkor Page #3

---

inscriptions

on many of the, many of the

monuments -

they were mostly in Sanskrit and

old Khmere.

He could tell by these inscriptions,

even though he couldn't read them,

that these were a very learned

people

who had built all this and yet they

were gone without a trace.

Sad frailty of human things!

How many centuries and

thousands of generations

have passed away, of which history

will never tell us anything.

What treasures of art will remain

forever buried beneath these ruins.

How many distinguished artists,

kings, and warriors are

now forgotten.

Mouhot was deeply frustrated

by the mystery of who had

created the city of Angkor.

He noted the similarity

between the faces in the carvings

and the people living in the

surrounding forests.

But he couldn't bring

himself to believe

that these Cambodians were descended

from Angkor's peerless artists.

In fact, the artistry of Cambodia

had never died.

Though it never again reached the

heights of Angkor,

Khmere art flourished throughout

Southeast Asia.

Demand for replicas if its most

famous works

grows with Angkor's fame.

Oblivious of Cambodia's past,

Mouhot saw France in its future.

Only a full scale takeover,

he concluded, could correct the

nation's 'deplorable' condition.

The sooner the better.

European conquest wise and

protecting laws, and experience

would alone effect the

regeneration of this state.

I wish France to possess this land,

which would add a magnificent

jewel to her crown!

Though Mouhot wouldn't live to

see it,

France did intervene soon after

his expedition,

making Cambodia a protectorate

in 1864.

It would last nearly a century.

Mouhot's diary wasn't the cause.

But like explorer's tales before,

it fueled interest and imitation.

King Mongkut's tutor,

Anna Leonowens, was so moved

by Mouhot's description of Angkor

she'd later copy it for her own

book.

Angkor was never a lost city

in Asians' eyes.

They knew about it and from

the 16th century onwards,

Jesuit priests wrote it in

their diaries.

It's just that their diaries

were so confidential

it didn't reach a wide public.

Mouhot was the first person to

popularize Angkor.

And it was his sketches, his

descriptions

that really is why he was credited

with the discovery of Angkor.

With a saber in one hand, Phrai

pursues the fishes in the stream.

He and his shadow reflected on

the rocks and water

might easily be mistaken by the

natives for demons.

It is pleasant to the man devoted to

our good and beautiful mother Nature

to think that his work, his fatigues,

his troubles and dangers, are

useful to others.

I doubt not others will follow in

my steps,

and gather an abundant harvest

where I have

but cleared the ground.

Mouhot had been traveling for the

better part of three years.

The amateur enthusiast had

become an expert naturalist,

a skilled outdoorsman, a hardened

explorer.

He treated Phrai and his other

servants as his family,

whom he alternately nursed and

scolded,

and with whom he shed tears at

parting.

Yet even as his letters home turned

wistful and sentimental,

and his journey stretched from two

years to three,

he couldn't seem to turn back.

Only on the trail was he at peace.

Do not be anxious when you think

of your poor friend the traveler,

for you know that up to the

present time

everything has prospered with him.

And truly I experience a degree of

contentment, strength of soul,

and internal peace, which I have

never known before.

But the French priest's dire

warning finally came true.

The weather and mosquitoes were

the worst yet.

First Phrai fell sick.

For five days we were compelled

to remain in the forest;

it rained a great part of the day,

the torrents overflowed.

I never in my life passed such

wretched nights.

My poor Phrai was seized with a

dreadful fever,

and I myself felt very ill.

October 29, 1861.

Overcome by fever

the 35 year old Mouhot scratched

out his last journal entry.

Have pity on me, oh my God!

Phrai recovered and made sure his

master received a proper burial.

Then he brought Mouhot's

possessions out of the forest,

and put them on boats for Europe.

Most of the zoological samples

the naturalist had collected during

his journeys

had already been lost at sea.

But his journal made it safely back

to England.

Henri's widow Anna persuaded the

Royal Geographical Society

to publish Mouhot's diary.

The first edition did not sell;

there were no profits to share

with Anna.

Yet, owing chiefly to its

description of Angkor,

Mouhot's work remained in print

for a full century.

Generations of travelers and

explorers have encountered

the treasures of Khmere culture

with Mouhot's journal in hand.

And perhaps some took heart in

one of Henri's last letters home,

a fitting epitaph for Mouhot, and

his generation of explorers:

Courage, then, and hope!

Our perseverance and efforts will

be recompensed.

Adieu, adieu, Au revoir.

Do not forget me.

Shortly after Henri Mouhot alerted

the world to the wonders of Angkor,

the work of recovering its treasures

began.

Mouhot's meticulous descriptions

had inspired Europe to take

a closer look.

But the questions had only just

begun.

Who were Angkor's builders, the

empire called the Khmere?

What were their lives like?

Archeologists had no written record

to go on

- If the Khmere had chronicled

their story,

they probably did so on palm leaves

and paper.

Time had turned the perishable history

to dust.

With nothing known about their

builders,

Angkor's monuments seemed destined

to hold their tongues forever.

Then in 1902 a remarkable document

came to light

and a most unlikely voice

reverberated across eight centuries.

The fantastic civilization of the

Khmere,

thought to be forever beyond reach,

came to life in all its grandeur.

In about 10,000 words

this report captured the heart of the

lost kingdom of Angkor.

Its author was a diplomat sent to

Cambodia

by China's fearsome Mongol Dynasty.

The Mongols are famous for

their deadly mounted warriors,

and for tactics that routed European

armies.

At the end of the 13th century,

however, they took aim at Southeast

Asia.

In 1286 the Mongols struck deep into

what's now Vietnam.

A year later the capital of Burma

fell to the hordes.

Yet the infamous horsemen didn't

like fighting

in the alien jungle terrain

- perhaps this alone saved Angkor

from being next.

Instead, Mongol Emperor Timur

Khan gave orders for diplomats

to go to Angkor and collect tribute

from the Cambodian king.

This would appease the Khan while

allowing the envoys

to size up Angkor for possible

future attack.

One of these diplomats was

Zhou Dagoun.

Zhou Dagoun in his writing, never

said why he was there.

He was part of an embassy

which obviously meant that it was

some, trying to check out on trade,

check out, get the intelligence on

what this kingdom was like.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes