Page:Further India; (IA furtherindia00clif).pdf/230

 the very tolerance of alien creeds, which Garnier found so worthy of praise, sets a seal upon their fate. This is a virtue which, in the East, never yet sprang from intel- lectual energy. It is in the Oriental a sure sign of the apathy of decay. Among the Kambodians, who have a proud past behind them, fanaticism is the last vestige of their ancient self-esteem: it is an expression of their hatred, their resentment of the foreign aggression which they fear, but are powerless to resist.

From September 11th to Christmas Day Bassak con- tinued to be the headquarters of the expedition. The camp was formed in deluges of rain, and for many days the down- pour continued unabated, but when fine weather re- turned a number of interesting explorations were made from this new base. Garnier, Delaporte and Thorel be- gan by visiting the plateau situated to the north of Bassak, but did not succeed in reaching the summit. Next Garnier was sent by de Lagrée to explore the lower reaches of the Se-Dom, a river which falls into the Mekong on its left bank some miles above Bassak. Up this stream he proceeded to a point where it bifurcates, and thence up the western branch to the great falls which are some fifty feet in height. Thence he returned down- stream, and set off with elephants in search of some silver mines, the existence of which had been rumoured by Mouhot. At the end of a laborious day's journey he found himself in the village of one of the wild tribes, and was informed by his guides that there were no mines to be seen, and that they had thought from the first that he desired to visit the habitations of the "savages." Neither