Following Yersin's footsteps to the Highlands

The work "Travels through the Highlands of Indochina". Photo by BUI TRUC

But there was another Yersin - a daring explorer with special trips in the mountainous region between Central and Southern Vietnam during the French colonial period. Those were trips that explored and discovered the Central Highlands, especially the Langbian Plateau, which laid the foundation for the Governor-General of Indochina, Paul Doumer, to establish the famous resort city of Da Lat later.

And with the scientific style of a researcher and the romanticism of an explorer, Yersin had a habit of recording carefully but emotionally about the discoveries in the lands he passed through.

In 2016, the independent Swiss publisher Editions Olizane collected Yersin's articles in various magazines and publications from 1893 to 1943 to print into a nearly 200-page book "Voyages chez les Moïs d´Indochine". The Vietnamese version "Travels through the Highlands of Indochina" was translated by Cao Hoang Doan Thuc and recently published by Tre Publishing House.

The first part of the book devotes more than 20 pages to editor Matthias Huber of Olizane Publishing House, who depicts a rich portrait of Alexandre Yersin - a unique person. Doctor Yersin lost his father while still in his mother's womb. Born with the love of his mother, the studious and studious boy Yersin, who loved to explore , chose research and exploration as his life's purpose until the end of his life.

Part two is the authentic records of the amazing trips Yersin made in the forests and mountains of the eastern Truong Son. A rare authenticity because the stories of the trips and writings were all done by Yersin himself without any intermediary stories.

Nearly 200 pages of the book arrange the expeditions into separate, easy-to-understand topics: “First contact with the land of the Montagnards in Annam”, “From Nha Trang to Stung Treng, passing through the land of the Montagnards”, “Seven months in the land of the Montagnards”, “Encounter with robbers”, “One month in M'Siao”, “First contact with the Lang-Bian plateau”, “From Nha Trang to Da Nang , passing through the land of the Montagnards”.

Cao Hoang Doan Thuc - the translator of the work, is currently the manager and tour guide of the Yersin Museum. With good French, access to many original documents, and admiration for Dr. Yersin, this charming translator did not disappoint readers.

Her use of the word “Montagnards” and “Montagnards” from the original French word “chez les Mois” is very clever and accurate. Not only Yersin, the French and the Kinh people at that time also called the ethnic minorities “Moi”, with the meaning of being wild and separated from civilization. Cao Hoang Doan Thuc changed it to “Montagnards”, cleverly avoiding a bit of sensitivity.

Returning to Yersin’s writings, his notes are a valuable source of information in many fields. Like a multi-episode documentary, readers can go back more than a hundred years to the past, the villages, landscapes, and customs of the ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands could not be more clear and authentic.

Readers will meet a curious, courageous and daring Yersin. His first unescorted trips across rivers and mountains through forests, facing the dangers of wild animals, robberies, tropical infectious diseases… But strangely, all of these were like stimulants that made him even more passionate.

He traveled through lands without a government, where villages were mired in internal conflicts, imprisoning each other’s people. Thanks to his peaceful and decisive spirit, he was even able to mediate and end conflicts between villages that were being subtly waged by ambitious and jealous small-time village elders.

Reading “Travels through the Highlands of Indochina”, readers can also admire the landscape, identity, and costumes of the Central Highlands people from the late 19th century through photos taken and developed by Yersin himself - precious images when this land had not yet been exposed to Western civilization.

Along with the fairy tale-like journey back in time, readers must have felt somewhat regretful for the current Central Highlands - a Central Highlands with too few old forests and few wild animals. Even the gong melody now only occasionally resounds in museum festivals, as a matter of course...

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/theo-dau-chan-yersin-ve-mien-thuong-3155017.html