From the island of Ceylon he went by sea and landed on the opposite peninsula, or India beyond the Ganges. The neighbourhood of Siam has splendid ruins of most noble buildings and statuary. In Bangkok, the capital of Siam, the temples and all other religious buildings are evidently of Egyptian origin. The Siamese of the present time, from the King to the peasant, live in poor houses of wood or bamboo; and they frankly admit that they did not build those ancient monuments, and do not even know who were the builders of them. Recent travellers in Chin-India speak in rapturous terms of the ruins of Angkor, the great temple in Siam. One writer says: “The ruins of Angkor are as imposing as the ruins of Thebes or Memphis, and more mysterious”; while another thinks that “one of these temples, a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michael Angelo, might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome.” The following description of these wonderful ruins is taken from the work of a recent traveller who visited them:—[59] “The ruins of Angkor are situated in the province of Siamrap, eastern Siam, in about lat. 13° 30’ N. and long. 104° E. We entered upon an immense causeway, the stairs of which were flanked with six huge griffins, each carved from a single block of stone. This causeway, which leads directly to the main entrance of the temple, is 725 feet in length, and is paved with stones, each of which measures four feet in length by two in breadth. On either side of it are artificial lakes fed by springs, and each covering about five acres of ground. We passed through one of the side gates and crossed the square to a _sala_ situated at the very entrance of the temple. Embosomed in the midst of a perfect forest of cocoa, betel-nut, and toddy palms, and with no village in sight, excepting a dozen or more huts, the abodes of priests having the charge of it; the general appearance of the wonderful temple is beautiful and romantic as well as impressive and grand. A just idea of it can hardly be conveyed by writing; it must be seen to be understood and appreciated. Still, perhaps, a detailed description might assist the imagination somewhat in forming a proper estimate of the grand genius which planned, and the skill and patience which executed, such a masterpiece of architecture.