Indo-China and its primitive people

by Henry Baudesson

BOOK I
AMONG THE MOÏ
CHAPTER I
AMONG THE MOÏ
General characteristics of the Moï--A legend as to their selection of a home--The part played by ocean currents in the distribution of races--Had primitive peoples a sense of direction?--Features of daily life--The hut--The village--Clothing and ornaments--A primitive method of kindling a fire	p. [3]
CHAPTER II
INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS
Agriculture--Industries--Weaving, iron and copper mining--Commerce and industrial products--Food supplies--Fishing--How we once fished with dynamite--Hunting--Various methods of big-game hunting--My first elephant hunt--Some useful hints to big-game hunters--Poisons--Arms and weapons of defence--The tiger, a dangerous neighbour--A bathing tragedy	p. [18]
CHAPTER III
FAMILY LIFE
Diseases and their cure--Betrothal and marriage--Adultery--Divorce--A Moï wedding--Birth--Childhood--The game of Pig-Snatcher	p. [52]
CHAPTER IV
SOCIAL LIFE
Property--Slavery--Utilitarian morals--A bashful race--The Levirate--Law and custom--An amateur arbitrator--Principles and practice of the Ordeal	p. [75]
CHAPTER V
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND RITES
Similarity between the philosophical conceptions of uncivilized races--Most of the ritual derived from magic--Dualism--Private and public talismans--The Pi--The Legend of the Dog-King-- Totemism--Sorcery--Rebel Moï	p. [98]
CHAPTER VI
RITES AND SUPERSTITIONS (continued)
Tribal and proprietary signs--Tattooing and mutilation--Principles and practice of the taboo--Its survival in modern Europe--The incarnation of Spirits in stones, trees and animals--Belief in the magic powers of the tiger--Animal poison--Bones as a charm--A protecting ear--Ex-votos offered to the Spirit of the tiger--Superstitions about monkeys--Hunting rites	p. [116]
CHAPTER VII
RITES AND SUPERSTITIONS (continued)
Agrarian rites--How Me-Sao, King of the Moï, opens the jar--Rites of initiation and "coming of age"	p. [137]
CHAPTER VIII
BELIEFS AND RITES
The origin and observance of funeral rites--The ceremony of the Commemoration of the Dead--Burial rites and various methods	p. [161]
CHAPTER IX
ART AND CULTURE
The relation between the evolution of artistic expression and social development as illustrated by the Moï and the Laotians--The intimate connection between Music, Dance and Stage--A Moï orchestra and war dance--Deficiencies in the sense of sound due to lack of artistic education--The effect of a gramophone--Predominance of the analytical over the synthetic faculty--Exaggerated respect for form--Impression produced by the stereoscope--Decorative arts--Sports, fêtes, and public amusements--Extensive use of marks for ritual and other purposes	p. [177]
CHAPTER X
INTELLECTUAL LIFE
The relations between the development of language and social evolution--An enigmatic system of writing--Knotted cords, notches in sticks and their accessories--The evolution of literature among primitive races--Length of memory among races that have no written records--Historical value of legends transmitted by oral tradition--Nature of the more usual alterations to be met with in documentary folklore--The most general legends, fables and proverbs of the Moï	p. [193]
BOOK II
THE CHAM
CHAPTER I
THE CHAM
General characteristics of the Cham--A Mohammedan group--Its place among ancient civilizations--Social life--Dress and ornaments--The calendar--Rites accompanying the construction of a house, a cart, and a junk--Agriculture and industry--Medicines--The use of narcotics by criminals to stupefy their victims	p. [225]
CHAPTER II
SOCIAL AND FAMILY LIFE
Traces of the matriarchal system in the conception of the family--The "Karoh"--Circumcision--Precautions against seduction--Rites incidental to betrothal, marriage, birth and infancy	p. [248]
CHAPTER III
RITES AND SUPERSTITIONS
The beginnings of Islam in Indo-China--Rites which accompany initiation into the priestly caste--The gods of Cham--Temples--Resemblance between the architecture of the Cham and that of the Kmer--Phallic rites--A visit to a royal sepulchre	p. [266]
CHAPTER IV
RITES AND SUPERSTITIONS (continued)
Agrarian rites--Tabooed ricefields--Secret ploughing--Sleeping rice--Various uses of eagle-wood--How the Cham procure it--Public festivals and holy days	p. [297]
CHAPTER V
RITES AND SUPERSTITIONS (continued)
Burial rites--Philology--Legends and fables	p. [310]
BIBLIOGRAPHY	p. [325]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The Tomb of a Radé Chief	[Frontispiece]
A Moï Maiden with enlarged Ears	Facing page [16]
A Cham Chief and his Daughter	[16]
Laotian Barque under full sail	[17]
A Moï Farmer at work	[17]
Fishing with Dynamite	[26]
A Floating Village	[26]
A Typical Village in Laos	[27]
Primitive Irrigation in Laos	[27]
Birth Ceremonies	[54]
The Wife of a Moï Chief	[55]
A Little Moï Family	[55]
A Sorcerer performing the Marriage Ceremony	[64]
Children scrambling over the Remains of the Marriage Feast	[65]
A Little Kha	[78]
Our Native Prisoners	[78]
The Village Musician serenading a Young Couple	[79]
A Hut of Propitiation	[100]
Tombs fenced with Bamboo and decorated with Elephants' Tusks	[100]
Woven Bamboo Baskets used to carry Offerings to the Priests	[101]
Memorial Stone erected to a Tiger	[130]
A Hunting Party	[131]
An Elephant and his Driver	[131]
The festival of the Dead: carrying home the Sacrificial Buffalo	[160]
The Festival of the Dead: Poles erected for the Celebration	[161]
Funeral Rites: the Body in a Coffin made from the Hollowed Trunk of a Tree	[174]
Funeral Rites: the Body by its weight has indicated its wish to be buried in this spot	[175]
A Medical Examination	[186]
Looking through the Stereoscope	[186]
Three Boys of our Native Guard	[187]
A Court of Trial on an Annamese Stage	[204]
A Group of Amateur Actors in Annam	[205]
A Mandarin of Annam	[205]
Royal Elephants in Cambodia	[250]
A Buddhist Procession	[251]
Image of a Departed Saint in a Phallic Temple	[272]
Statues erected to the Dead in Laos	[272]
Shrine of a Laotian Priest	[273]
The Interior of the Shrine	[273]
Statue of an Ancient King of Cambodia	[288]
Statue of an Ancient Queen of Cambodia	[288]
An Old Cham Temple in a Cambodian Forest	[288]
The House of a Cham Aristocrat	[289]
A Cottage Home in Cambodia	[289]
Cremation in Cambodia: the Head of the Procession	[312]
A Catafalque upon which several Bodies are carried away for Cremation	[312]
The Hearse and Bearers at an Annamese Funeral	[313]
The Altar of his Ancestors, which accompanies the Deceased	[313]

FOREWORD

No nation which desires worthily to fulfil the rôle of Protector to the barbarous races on whom it proposes to confer the benefits of civilization can afford to remain ignorant of their ways of life and thought. The interchange of ideas is as essential to successful colonization as the exchange of commodities. Unfortunately the path to knowledge is beset with difficulties. In the first place the savage or semi-savage is unable to apply the method of synthesis to those of his institutions which seem founded on custom. He cannot tell us which of his usages have been borrowed or imposed from outside. Further, as a rule, it seems impossible to find any medium of communication between his language and ours, so that any attempt at cross-examination is met by the sorry pretence that our questions "make his head ache."

During the period covered by the geodetical and topographical surveys which preceded the construction of the Trans-Indo-Chinese railway, the members of the mission to which I was attached lived for years among the natives upon terms of the greatest familiarity. We saw them in their homes, at their work and recreations, and we can at least claim that we obtained our knowledge at first hand.

I have not hesitated throughout this book to record the conclusions of my colleagues and to compare or contrast them with my own for the sake of the light they may throw upon each other.

I have analysed the rites and superstitions which came to my notice with a mind unhampered by obsession or prejudice. If I have seemed to dwell too fondly on analogous ceremonies among other peoples and in other days it is only because I wish to arrive at the broad principles which seem to me to underly all these phenomena, principles which are as immutable as human nature itself.