Indo-China and Its Primitive People

A lively report published by Captain Henry Baudesson in 1932 upon returning from years of work in the interior of Vietnam on various French colonial public works. The author lived for years among the Moïs, which means "savages" in Vietnamese, who comprise several hill tribes. He also spent considerable time with the Cham, the curious remnants of the great Mohammedan Champa state. The book is lavishly illustrated with period photographs of these hill people and their customs in which captain Baudesson took a special interest. Their social life and religious rites are placed in the wider context of studies of primitive peoples in other parts of the world. Baudesson’s descriptions of their art and culture are characterized by great respect for those who would soon suffer so much from the growing influence of colonial ventures brought by way of the railway line on which he was himself working.