176

GRANITE WORKS OF THE ANCIENTS.

although they are not confined to it, but scattered over a
wide extent of the neighbouring country. They are far too
numerous and elaborate in design for any thing like a
detailed account of them in this place; a dozen pages, in
fact, would hardly suffice to exhaust the peculiarities of a
single monument and its adjuncts. Their antiquity may
be judged in some measure from the present aspect of the
granite temples of Ongeor Thém. These are situated in
a district which is now completely embedded in a forest
very difficult of access, and are in so ruinous a state, that
trees are found growing on the roofs, and many of the gal-
leries are choked with débris. The base and a large portion

of the elevation are constructed of a ferruginous rock, but |

for the upper part are used immense blocks of granite,
which are so exquisitely cut and adjusted as to require no
mortar to fill the interstices. Numerous mythological
subjects, carved in relievo, are indicative of Buddhism,
one of the most ancient of the many religions in the East.
Sculpturing in granite seems to have been brought to as
high a state of perfection here as in India, and a knowledge
of the laws of mechanics to have been known at an equally
early period; as may be inferred, in the last-mentioned
instance, from the wonderful stone bridge which spans
the broad and impetuous stream of Sthiing Sen. This is
the largest cyclopzan structure of its kind in the world.
It is four hundred feet long, and fifty feet broad, and is
supported by thirty arched pillars, built of huge stones,
those in the foundation being a hard conglomerate, the
others freestone. The blocks forming the pillars are of
oblong shape, and are laid in lines, with the broad side
(six or eight feet) turned towards the river. The pillars
stand in pairs, arching in opposite directions. At the
base, the distance is about six feet, but the stones project
gradually towards the top, inclining in an arch. The
body of the bridge is formed by large stone beams,
fourteen feet and upwards in length, which stretch in
several layers one above the other. The upper ones are
placed alternately on the edges of the lower ones, and
thus their very weight contributes to keep the arch
steady. There was formerly a balustrade, ornamented
with arabesque sculptures, but this is now in a very
dilapidated condition, the greater part of it having been
wantonly thrown down by the incursive Moslem. The
country boasts of many such bridges, but none, however,
upon so colossal a scale as that which spans the Sthting Sen.

The fact of a cyclopwan edifice in this far distant scene
exhibiting traces of elaborate embellishment on certain
portions of it, is not singular, although too frequently inex-
plicable. The same thing has been observed in various parts
of Europe and America; and its presence, therefore, should
restrain the ethnologist, as well as the antiquary, from
predicating too hastily with respect to the origin or social
status of the particular peoples who may have occasionally
indulged in the practice of a superior art. Wherever it
is apparent, it clearly evinces that they were more highly
cultivated, or farther advanced in civilization, in its
ordinary acceptation, than is commonly conceded by those
whose judgment in such matters is influenced, not by
obvious developments but by the empirical rules ofa school
or class. Archzology has suffered more than any other
science from this too prevalent habit. Here, in Cambodia,
where there is nothing whatever to guide us through the
mazes of its primitive history than a series, or rather an
accumulated series of stupendous ruins, the barbaric and
refined styles are so intermingled as to defy the skill of

the most patient investigator to dissociate them, or to
determine the chronological order of each.

The marvel of marvels in Cambodia, however, is
Nakon Wat, “The Temple of Angels,” by whom, in the

| judgment of the present degenerated people of Kamen, it

was built; and which is situated almost fifteen miles
north of the lake Talé Sab, and hidden in the depths of
an ancient and almost impenetrable forest. Nothing
whatever is known of its origin. “It stands,” says a
traveller, “like a mighty sphinx frowning contemptuously
on the infantine and barbaric state of the arts and science

of the people who are now the denizens of the forests

and plains in its vicinity; and presents with its towers
and halls, so pregnant with mystery and evidences of
the past, a wondrous enigma, which challenges the wisdom
of the world to fathom.” The late Henri Mouhot, who
explored these distant regions in the years 1862-63, was
struck by the similarity of the present inhabitants, in all
their physical characteristics, to the caste or race depicted
so frequently on the ruined walls of the principal edifices;
an observation which affords us additional evidence of
the fact, were it needed, that the posterity of a highly
civilized people may be degraded in the lapse of a few
centuries to the level of the savage. Anent this cir-
cumstance, the first-mentioned traveller also remarks,
“Standing alone in a country now depopulated and oyer-
grown with forest, wherein not even a house of the
smallest description can be found, and constructed of
stone, these granite ruins cannot fail to strike the be-
holder with the utmost wonder and awe, indicative as
they are of an age and people to whose vigour, power,
and talent the present debased and enervated condition
of the Cambodian forms amostpowerfully painful contrast.”

Our present limits will admit only of a very condensed
account of this magnificent temple, which is the supposed
work of angelic beings, and which comprises three divi-
sions, one above the other—the inner and chief one being
a pyramidal-shaped tower, rising to the height of 300 feet
from the ground; this is surrounded by the second diyi-
sion or corridor; and this in turn is enclosed by the third
division or corridor. The absence of any large halls or
chambers is owing to the fact of the builders having been
ignorant of the art of arching. The principal flight of
steps leading up to the grandest entrance conducts along
a succession of small apartments and passages, and up
various sets of stairs, through both of the outer divisions,
or carried on to the tower or sanctum sanctorum, where,
after ascending another broad flight of steps, some sixty
feet high, is the seat of the supreme idol, to whom the
temple was dedicated. The outer corridor contains the
most interesting features of the entire building in the
shape of the bas-reliefs with which its walls are profusely
decorated. These extend nearly the whole length of the
four sides, and display an extraordinary amount of artistic
taste and skill. Like all other parts of the structure,
the figures are carved out of granite, and now present a
highly polished surface, though they were formerly over-
laid with gold of considerable thickness, traces of which
still remain.

The temple was sacked by Siamese soldiery in the great
war of 1835, and many of its ornamented walls sadly
defaced. Fortunately, a few of them are still in an ex-
cellent state of preservation, and from the scenes de-
lineated upon them we may deduce, in some measure,
the moral status of the generation by whom they were