French explorer and anthropologist Henri Mouhot dies of fever in Laos, aged thirty-five

French explorer, naturalist, and anthropologist Henri Mouhot died aged thirty-five of fever in the Laotian jungle and was buried at a French mission near Naphan.  His notebooks reached France, however, and became the catalyst for the opening to the western imagination of the vast 400 square kilometer religious complex at Angkor  and its main temple Angkor Wat.  Mouhot had reached the area in January 1860 and spent weeks sketching and writing. (By John Osborne)