WONDERFUL RUINS IN SIAM.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3192, 9 October 1867, Page 4

WONDERFUL RUINS IN SIAM.

General Pebrin, a Frenchman, mandarin of the third class, commanding the land forces of the King n Siam, writes to a French paper as follows :—: — " For six days' journey of an elephant, I have traversed the ruins of Ancor-Niat, only penetrating them at intervals, where explorers had been before. What I have seen of monuments, temples, palaces, columns, staircases, and piles of marbles, cannot be t«ld. They would not believe me. The peopla of the country say that the ruins are spread over a circle of from ten to twelve leagues in diameter. What was the city that existed there, and of what empire was it the capital ? I have seen temples in a good state of preservation (except the vegetation that had sprung up in them), which measured no less than a league round. There are forests of marble columns—everything is of marble. Although much may have disappeared beneath the soil, what remains ia far above what we see at Versailles or elsewhere. In some places they are as solid as though built but yesterday. But for the undergrowth and the effect of lightning, these monuments, which the people say are from four to five thousand years old, might be to-day in complete preservation. I regret that I had no photographic apparatus, I assure you, and believe me or not, that the most celebrated monuments of ancient or modern Europe are as mere barracks compared with these, while our palaces and basilicas, the Vatican andCoiosseum, are little better than dog-kennels in comparison. I wished to ascend to a temple which appeared to be in a good state of preservation. There were eleven staircases of I know not how many steps, which must be ascended to arrive at the first of the five peristyles. _ T commenced my upward journey at half-past six m the morning ; at half-past seven 1 had scarcely entered the lower halls. Fearing that I might have to descend the steps in the heat of the day, I was compelled to shorten my visit. The walls are in every part sculptured and ornamented. The first effect which the sight of these monuments produced upon me was one of amazement. lam no amateur to go into ecstasies over small things. The next morning I climbed the'winding staircase of an immense tower, situated on an eminence. Arrivedat the summit, T enjoyed the sight of the ruins. There are, in localities where I have not yet penetrated, palaces of a height and grandeur truly colossal. With a field glass I examined the details Their architectural richness is unrivalled, and they extend into the territory of Cambodia, a distance of ten or twelve leagues. Picture to yourself how Paris would appear in ruins—a few rough stones scattered over a diameter of two or three leagues at the utmost. Here there are orf the ground, and below its surface, marble, already hewn in sufficient quantities to build, even as the giants have built here, all the cities of the universe. I have seen the leg of a statue, the great toe of^hich was eleven times the length of my hunting rifle. It is in marble like the rest—in fact, there is no other stone near excepb the pieces of coloured marble used for borders and for the eyes of the statues^ which are more lofty and larger than Saint German I'A uxerrois Think of octagonal pyramidscutoffatthemiddle, and all in marble. Who has done these things ? If it was some illustrious dynasty they can have but little satisfaction with the oblivion that has enveloped their magnificent monuments. The people of the country have no real conception of the builders, although their literature extends back into the centuries much further than ours."—English paper.

Milking Shbep.— Monadook,in one of bis interesting letters from Paris to the New York Time*, writes: "I used to think the Yankees were sharp when money was to be made, but they cannot begin with the patient, saving, flint-skinning Europeans. The English, and even the Scotch, are improvident and wasteful in comparison. For instance, what Yankee would ever think of making his fortune by milking his sheep? But here in Lhe Exhibition is a Bample flock of sheep kept expr. ..sly for milking , and their milk is more profitable than the wool or mutton. One company in the department of Avignon makes of the milk of s-heep four million pounds of cheese a year, which i» sent all over the world from Bucharest, in Roumania, to New York, whence it is distributed, no doubt, over the western continent. It is also sent direct to China and South America. This is the much-admired Roquefort cheese. It is made with great care, and ripened in extensive caves of a perfectly even temperature, x model of which forms one of the features of the Exhibition. I recommend this industry to the good people of the White or Green Mountains. If their present breeds of sheep are not good milkers, they have only to send to France and import the right sort.' 1