Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/461

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CHAP. II. TEMPLE OF ANGKOR VAT. 385 to effect it in India for 100 years, but never hit on anything either so artistic or convenient as this. It is, in fact, the solution of a problem over which we might have puzzled for centuries, but which the Cambodians resolved instinctively. The exterior cornice here, as throughout the temple, is composed of infinite repetitions of the seven-headed snake. 463, View of Interior of Corridor, Angkor Vat. (From a Photograph by Mr. J. Thomson.) The most wonderful parts, however, of these colonnades of Angkor Vat are the sculptures that adorn their walls. These are distributed in eight compartments, one on each side of the four central groups of entrances, measuring each from 250 ft. to 300 ft. in length, with a height of about 6J ft. Their aggre- gate length is thus at least 2000 ft, and assuming the parts photographed to be a fair average, the number of men and VOL. II. 2 B