Show a 1 1 wr t I I II 1 Princess Achille Murat First White A Woman t Brave the Wilds f fI I Indo China Tells Her Own Words I II in I II II I II I I I f Her Interesting Experiences r 4 A Ik This Little Known G fi fia a 4 A r rc r c I 1 r y ow rn F ny V 4 71 of 1 y M l n I Two of the Cambodian dancers who enter enter- i ayr r k M r Y r I w r X c rained Princess Murat at one of the F R r te 1 rt y f M jw in Indo China These dancers are famous f r x NV a t for the grace and acrobatic nature of their t t n 7 By PRINCESS ACHILLE MURAT yA A careful archaeological reconstruction By PRINCESS ACHILLE MURAT PARIS i iF F the number of travelers who go to toi toi JF i is increasing every year ear jt has been the lot of but very few white persons to the innermost secrets of Indo-China Indo t ot Ot N toOt a t many ma n have nave been privileged to u witness the ho he mystic dances of 01 the golden of King at at Phnom Phnom- Phnom Penh Penh or shoot the rapids of Upper tipper Laos and ace Eee the picturesque love making of the natives of Luang Luang Then of course there were our excitIng exciting exciting ing experiences with the big man eating man tigers of southern Annam coming after the thrilling fortnight we had spent on ona ona ona a bamboo raft floating down the mighty Mekong River niver Together with my husband and the Marquis de dc we landed at Saigon a bright busy modern town with Pari Pari- Parisian Parisian sian an shops sheltered by swaying palms md traveled by river boat to in Cambodia What hat words could describe the wonder of the world How lIow express the travelers traveler's bewilderment when for forth forthe forthe th the first time he sees arising from the green grcen ocean o or ocean on r n of the tropical jungle the five Ih-e great towers of Vat That temple alon alone could enclose a whole town within its precincts And alongside of Vat there is i Thorn Thom the ruined cit city with its world of palaces and and porticoes temples and terraces that were wore in olden oMen times the sumptuous abodes of soldiers priests and kings Nowadays the silence and solitude ne are only disturbed by screaming peacocks ks and playful monkeys or sometimes by bythe bythe bythe the velvet footsteps of a panther In Intact fact we almost r ran ran n over a panther that was dazzled by our headlights as W we were motoring by night near Vat Vat On leaving the ancient capital we stopped at Phnom-Penh Phnom where the de- de descendants descendants de descendants of the sovereigns who reigned at dream amid relics of the past of the splendors lors of former days A dancing festival at the tho court of Phnom Penh is a reminder of bygone times If her costumes have slightly changed the dancers dancer's gestures gesture and poses are similar to those that were Inscribed on the bas at ten cen- cen centuries centuries cen centuries ago To the sound of strange music marked by gongs flutes wooden xylophones and strung nd strung high human voices the supple dan dancing ing girls molded in their silken gar gar- garments gar garments ments woven with thread of gold and sparkling with jewels move in a 11 succession succession sion of slow strange attitudes They danced for us at the bidding of their king In the gaudy palace ot of Penh Phnom Penh his Itis Majesty Prea Bat Prea gave us a grand reception The King although he is seven eighty years ears old Is extraordinarily bright and strong A dinner jacket decked the upper part of his roy royal l person while trousers were replaced by a green silk ls This Is a long piece of stuff that Is wound around the waist gathered up between the legs and fastened behind His out out- outfit out outfit fit lt ws was by black silk stockings and pumps a diamond belt anda and a pair of black spectacles Moreover he sometimes wears a I L I yA A careful archaeological reconstruction of one of the magnificent approaches to toi i the temple Pl of This temple was i i d built ages ago by a vanished long-vanished race lace races s which has left science no clue to its identity identity iden- iden identity except the wonderful ruins now half L- L hidden bidden by the jungles of Indo-China Indo r w N k 1 k Princess Murat Mural dressed in the pic- pic picturesque picturesque pic picturesque costume worn by the women bowler bat hat embellished by a 11 huge dia- dia diamond diamond dia diamond mond aigrette rette and always alwa's smokes an enormous cigar We were only able to converse with King through the medium of an interpreter and I was told that the King intended giving me a souvenir of our visit to his palace To my delight this turned out to be bethe bethe bethe the sumptuous dress ofa of a first dancer It consists of a br brocaded orange silk and end a n long orange and blue velvet scarf embroidered with thread of gold The Tha headgear is a heavy silk dia- dia diadem diadem dia diadem dem shaped somewhat like a small pagoda When I possessed the dancers dancer's cos cos- costume cos- cos costume costume tume I wanted to learn her steps so I took lessons with the ballet mistress Madam Melek a II local celebrity Cambodian dances are much harder to learn than the Charleston but I must say they arc much more fascinating tot to t f behold especially when they ere are not danced by me When Madam Melek had made me lose a few pounds of flesh we returned to Saigon and then motored motored up the long Mandarin road which winds along the tho coast of Annam It was a most varied and interesting journey Jungle forests alternated with checkered checkered gold and emer emerald ld colored rice fields narrow passages hanging over the China Sea lead down into long low plains where herds of large buffaloes with great branching horns were graz graz- grazing graz- graz grazing grazing ing near curly roofed pagodas We passed through villages with low huts made of mud and straw Our car scattered swarms of swollen naked babies who romp in the dust with the poultry black pigs and yellow dogs Their elders ciders the betel chewing men and women trot along on clogs and bear everything they are obliged to carry attached to either cither end of a long bamboo pole balanced on one shoulder At we saw mountains of pink marble which contain wonderful grottoes dedicate dedicated to the good spirits of Annam Ann am Then there is the the old old Chinese settlement with its many pagodas and the ruins of Son My-Son the red brick Cham city dedicated to the god Siva In the imperial town of Hue flue which drowses on the banks of the River ot of Perfumes the Emperor received us looking like an ivory divinity clad in yellow brocade in a palace of lacquer and sandalwood We wandered through the most beau beau- beautiful beautiful beau gardens where the dead Emperors sleep near deep still lakes in which are pagodas pavilions and terraces amid white and pink lotus flowers Th n Then up in Tonkin there is the ex ex- extraordinary ex extraordinary Day Cay of Ha Long which Is studded d with myriads of islands and rocks assuming the most extravagant shapes and pierced with deep grottoes and caverns On the side of one ono monstrous rock our boat went through a sort of portico and after ten minutes navigation in the dark came camo out into the sunlight again in the tho middle of a like fairy-like lake sur sur- surrounded sur- sur surrounded surrounded rounded on all sides by green vertical walls Another time we rowed almost two hours by torchlight seeking the way out from a corridor where pirates and smug smug- smugglers smugglers hid after the sack of an an n Oriental junk After that we said farewell to motor motorcars motorcars motorcars cars and hotels and turned turl into the wild jungles of Upper Laos We rode over the tho mountains and through wonderful forests where tree trees of ofa a bewildering height are arc studded with orchids and hung bung with festoons of creep crep- crepIng Ing ing creeping plants I i At night we slept In native villages where there is always a hut or sa sale la kept for travelers Salas Sales are built on piles like ail all Laotian houses andare and are made of interwoven bamboo branches They do not contain any furniture rn f fI fa I a r i A Lao Lao- Laotian tian father taking baby 4 for an airing 1 fi H i f 1 i 1 I i j a U r J t 4 J j If i ih h t e ya yai i t Travelers Tra are supposed to bring their own bedding but we had simplified the question by taking only two small bags for the three of us us So we bt 19 o rI InC 7 A society belle of one of the villages in Laos visited by the French Princess But in spite of her social position she is as you see not above carrying her baby on her back and Y lugging the family's supply of water i from the nearby river The Princess as she looks in inthe inthe the drawing room of her fashionable Paris home used to wrap our cloaks around our legs and use our bags as pillows Our suite consisted of an cook who prepared excellent meals with the rice and bananas purchased in the villages and the tho game shot by my bus bus- husband band and Marquis The scantily clad Laotians are charm charm- charming charming charming ing people and most hospitable They meet you with songs and flowers and call caU down own Buddha's benediction on the wayfarer They They They arc Ire very at guiding aiding the frail canoes in which they travel on their swift flowing rivers We spent three days in in a n Laotian canoe The rapids we were obliged to about shoot about thirty a made day day made this part of the journey most exciting Our canoe did not capsize although we often thought our last hour had come came but we did get thoroughly drenched T Thus us we reached Luang capital of the Land of One pillion Million Ele- Ele Elephants Elephants Ele Elephants and the White Parasol which is the quaint native name nnnie for Upper Laos Luang is a big garden full of tropical flowers and trees that shelter Ii a few old pagodas and several hundred bamboo huts built bum on piles plies Owing to its rather inaccessible situ situ- situation situation situation the delightful city has kept its pure exotic character The Laotians who vho are ore handsome In- In Indolent indolent In Indolent dolent and romantic have two aims in life to enjoy enjoy themselves as ns much as 88 possible and never to do any work if they can possibly help it it Their great occupation is love making When the full mo moon moon n enlightens the radiant tropical nights the boys and girls squat opposite each other in a pagoda court yard and exchange exchange- dee dec declarations dec declarations These are aro always put to music One boy who has hidden his face be- be behind behind be behind hind a n blanket starts singing something like this You You are arc the sweet flower I love lovo I myself am but a poor faded flower but I 11 if you give it water it shall shaU live again and bloom for you ou 7 To which tho the girls girl's mocking voice oice re- re replies re- re replies re replies i plies that she the sweet fresh flower lower cannot be put beside an old withered plant Sometimes she is is more responsive and answers that the love in her own heart heartis heartis heartis is boiling like the great river liver between its banks after several se months ofrain of rain On leaving Luang we trav tray traveled traveled vied down the Mekong River on a raft This was a small bamboo shed built on ona ona ona a floor and laid on two canoes which had been attached together Bamboo partitions divided the shed into two com com- compartments compartments compartments ono one being used as bedroom and sitting room and ond the other as kitchen and store room The raft raIt was manned by twelve Laotian rowers jolly half naked fel- fel f lowr fel-lowr l- l lowr who much preferred sleeping or treating treating us to a concert instead of nick mak making in ing the effort required for rowing us along We Ve leisurely drifted down the great river sometimes sometimes stopping near a pretty little linte village for marketing purposes and sometimes tearing through an impressive impressive impressive sive rapid k The twelve drys we spent on our raft are among our happiest traveling memories How lIow wo we enjoyed the primitive primitive me life and the gorgeous wild scenery and our evening dips in the warm river when we u used ed to splash about noisily so as to frighten away the crocodiles sl slOn 1 On returning to Saigon we went up to the tho Lang Lang-Bian Plateau of southern Annam where we camped for a fort fort- fortnight fortnight thirty night and saw four tigers in six thirty hours This is how it came about Monsieur l Millet the celebrated crack shot of China Indo China had prepared a bait consisting consist consist- consisting consisting ing of a dead buffalo buffalo somewhere in the wild grassy plains to the north of positions The first evening we took took up our behind a bamboo screen My hus huss husband husband band shot a II young tiger as liS it came up to devour the bait The day after he wounded his second victim a large tigress that bounded away to die in the jungle We set forth to look for her the following morning and were slightly taken aback at sight ight of ofa a splendid pair of tigers breakfast breakfast- breakfasting breakfasting ing on the remains of the buffalo IMy 1 I My husband killed the tigress but be- be before be before fore he could shoot again the male escaped witha with a stupendous bound The second victim was found by our ol trackers and the three skins kins now occupy ia a decorative place in our home lione All this and many other things be- be besides be besides sides I describe in my book Two and anda a Camera in Indo Shins I intend going to the United States next month and giving giving-a giving a few illustrated lectures to tell teU my American friends friend about our experiences in the Far East Then we shall shaH travel back to Indo Indo- IndoChina Indo China China and on around the world with q a small party of American friends I |