The Antiquities of Cambodia

With a warm tribute to Henri Mouhot in the very first sentences, John Thomson’s book reflects not only the photographer’s skills but also the keen eye of the geographer — one has to keep in mind he was a member of the Royal Geographical Society for no less than fifty-five years.

In his introductory note to this Series of Photographs Taken on the Spot, the author remarks: 

Cambodia is one of the most fertile and beautiful of the tropical countries of S.-E. Asia. It is bounded on the N.N.-W., and W. by Anam, Laos, and Siam; on the S. by the Gulf of Siam and E. by Lower CochinChina. Like Egypt Cambodia possesses a great fertilizing agency in the annual inundation of the Mekong River, which flows through the country from an unknown source in the south of China.

At present the cultivation of rice, cotton, silk, pepper, tobacco, and other products is confined to a small radius round the towns and villages scattered along the banks of the river, or of the Tale-Sap (a great fresh-waterlake). When the country was in its glory the interior must have been a perfect garden. It is now covered with vast prairies and impenetrable forests. Scattered in handfuls round the outskirts of these forests, where the elephant, the rhinocéros, and the tiger abound, the rude natives, who live in the most primitive fashion, gain their subsistence by collecting gums, cardimums, ivory, horns,and hides.

Native tradition, the annals of the surrounding nations, the ancient stone cities, the bridges that span the rivers, and the highways that intersect the plains, tell us that the ancient Cambodians were a powerful and cultivated race, whose influence extended far and wide, and who spared no labour or wealth in developing the resources of their vast dominions. For at least 500 years Cambodia has been on the decline,and its territory bas undergone a process of gradual absorption by the surrounding nations. Oniy eighty-four years ago the provinces in which its finest antiquities are found were ceded to the Siamese (see King of Siam’s letter), and the entire country was tributary to Siam up to August 1863, when, by a French treaty with the Siamese, Cambodia was rendered an independent kingdom.

While the present book only dwells on the architectural and archaeological aspects of his exploration, we find interesting notations about the technical constraints the ​“traveller-photographer” had to face in his daily work in the remarks Thomas made following George Curzon’s communication to the RGS in 1893, ​“Journeys in French Indo-China (Tongking, Annam, Cochin China, Cambodia”): 

When in Cambodia, the King of Siam sent a special envoy to request me to photograph the entire series, a request with which I was unable to comply. At that time the kodak was unknown, and one had to depend on the collodion wet process of photography. This entailed the constant presence of eight or ten porters to transport the necessary apparatus. But the process had this advantage; as each plate was taken it was at once developed, so that one could see and judge of its value.” (see full text here).

Among the spots photographed and commented: 

• Angkor Wat (Nakhon Wat) galleries and entrances, bas-reliefs. About the latter, he notes that ​“the skill displayed in these bas-reliefsgoes far to prove that Nakhon Wat was erected during the reign of a Cambodian Semiramis, when the wealth and resources of the country must have been equal, if not supenor, to that of the ancient Egyptians, and when the Cambodians,one would conceive, must have been a nation of skilled workmen.”
• Angkor Thom (Nakhon Thom ​“or Inthapatapuri”);
• Bayon: which Thomson quite poetically calls ​“Prea Sat Ling Poun (the place where they play hide-and seek), a modern name given by the natives on account of the labyrinth of passages and apartments that occur beneath the towers.” One cannot be but impressed by the accuracy of the photographer’s captions, as in effect លេងបិទពួន leng phuon means hide-and-seek in modern Khmer, a game still played by kids nowadays;
• Palace of the Leprous King (“Prasat Chow Ke-rhuen”): actually the Phimeanakas and the Elephant Terrace.