WAY OF THE KINGS; TRANS. BY HOWARD CURTIS

the long version

"Claude and Perken meet on a liner heading for Indo-China, and throw their lots in together to form a joint expedition into the perilous Cambodian jungles of 'The Way of the Kings'. Claude, a young Frenchman, is seeking adventure, fame and money; Perken, an experienced Dutch explorer, is returning to his own little patch of Siam, aiming to recapture his former masculine pride, obsessed with the coming of age and its effects. The two face death at every turn from the seething forest and 'bestial' tribespeople, but are driven to leave their stamp on a world on the eve of its demise, in defiance of the advance of the railway and 'civilisation', and the term of their own fragile lives."--Publisher description.