The Jungle People

German author Gabrielle Bertrand was visiting Ban-Me Thuot (now Buôn Ma Thuột) in Dak Lak Province in the Central Highlands of Vietnam briefly, intending to connect with an acquaintance and move on to a hunt in the lake region after a few weeks. Instead she met Dominique Antomarchi, the French Inspector of Primary Education. This book was published in 1959, but the fact the French still seemed to be involved, and that Emperor Bảo Đại is mentioned would suggest the travel occurs at the lastest in 1954 (although there may have been some transitional involvement of the French so perhaps 1955 before Bảo Đại was ousted by referendum.

Dominique Antomarchi, although being involved in the book for only a few pages, changed the authors plans and set her on the path to a much longer time spent in the Central Highlands with the native tribes. Antomarchi peaked her interest, and set her up with a young man to be her guide who proved to be the making of her trip. He was able to perform his role almost perfectly by smoothing her way, arranging things that needed it and interpreting for those who required it (most). I'Doat was obviously a clever individual, who had the right temperament to deal with the various tribes.

The book explains all the travel and interactions, but as much as anything it is the vehicle to tell the legends of the Moi people. Moi seems to be deemed a pejorative term now, and Montagnard is now used as an umbrella term for the tribes of the Central Highlands. As well as legends we have other explanations why things are the way they are - less legends than stories or explanations. Eg ‘Why the Moi have no writing'; ‘The story of the division of the waters between the mois and the Laoans'. Legends include ‘The legend of the origin of the Moi'; ‘The legend of the Fire King'; The legend of the Moon and the black panther'; ‘The legend of the wild dogs'; etc etc.

The format was ok, but the travel became a little repetitive, and there was not much spark in most of it. There was nothing very edgy or especially stimulating to keep me interested. The translation seemed ok (as far as you can tell?) but there were a couple of sentences which didn't read quite right and needed tidying up in a proof read.

The text is accompanied by a decent number of photos, and a hand drawn map. Some of the photos were good - some were pretty average or poorly selected, perhaps there were not many to choose from.

Perhaps more interesting to a reader who want to pick up on the legends than a reader interested in the travel.

For me, 3 stars.