Resensi Dick van der Meij
Andree Jaunay, avec Ies contributions de Christine Lorre, Antonio Guerreiro et Antoine Verney, Exploration dans la presqu'ile malaise par Jacques de Morgan 1884. Paris: CNRS Editions, 2003, xiv + 268 pp. ISBN 2.271.05966.6. Price: EUR 39.00 (paperback).
DICK VAN DER MEIJ
Bijdragen, tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 160.2/3, 2004 pp. 383-385
Genevieve Dollfus, in her preface to this volume, describes Jean Marie de Morgan (1857-1924) as 'one of the greatest figures of French orientalism at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century'. Indeed he was. He was a man of many interests - ethnology, archeology, botany, geology, history, prehistory, protohistory, paleontology, conchology and much, much more - and he made collections of artefacts, coins, and archeologi-cal finds which he bequeathed to museums in France (among them the Musee Ethnographique du Trocadero at Paris and the Musee des Antiquites Nationales at Saint-Germain-en-Laye) and abroad. He is most famous for his archeological explorations in Persia and Egypt and for a multitude of articles on archeological, ethnological, and other matters. His interest in Malaysia has, however, received less attention up until now. Yet before embarking on his work in Persia and Egypt, he had already been in Malaysia. A trained mine engineer, he accepted an invitation to explore possibilities of tin explorations in the Perak area of Malaysia in 1884, when he was 27 years old. Having done this, between 16 June and 6 September of that year he made an exploratory trip to the areas of Perak where the 'aborigines' (Orang Asli) lived, people who up to that time had seldom if ever been in close contact with Europeans. During his trip he kept a diary in which he recorded his findings about the nature, culture, language, history, legal system, and other matters of interest he found among the Sakai and Semang peoples there. Not only did he make notes, he also illustrated his notes lavishly, with portraits of people he met as well as drawings of natural, architectural and other subjects. Many - although regretfully not all - of the illustrations are reproduced in this book.
Exploration dans la presqu'ile malaise is in essence an edition of de Morgan's travel notes, but it is also much more. It includes a short biography of Jacques de Morgan - the assumption here is that the interested reader will be able to find further details elsewhere, since Morgan has been the subject of a number of studies - and the travel diary (together with many illustrations taken from it) introduced by Andree Jaunay. Antoine Verney discusses the notes de Morgan made, which are now preserved in the Musee Baron Gerard de Bayeux, and provides a number of visual examples of what his notes originally looked like. The volume continues with reprints of articles written by de Morgan, which are now hard to find, complemented by a bibliography of all his publications.
Apart from this there are seven appendices. Antonio Guerreiro discusses the itinerary and provides many notes on topography and vocabulary, as well as contributing a second annex dealing with the Orang Asli and their culture and languages. Guerreiro, basing himself on materials available at the Trocadero, also wrote the annex on collectors of ethnographic materials from the Orang Asli during the second half of the nineteenth century. Christine Lorre is the author of the two remaining annexes: an extensive catalogue of materials in the de Morgan collection of the Musee des Antiquites Nationales, and a list of objects from the collection which are no longer to be found there. The book is beautifully produced, and a must for those scholars interested in the subject. It is lavishly illustrated with drawings and other illustrations - among them maps - made by de Morgan himself, and it contains many photographs dating from de Morgan's time. Some of the drawings are in colour, but many have been reproduced in black and white and no indication is provided whether or not they were originally polychrome. The travel account is well written and gives sometimes wonderful descriptions of how the journey was organized and executed. One sees Jacques de Morgan and his companions struggling through the jungle on elephant back and being amazed by the wonders they encounter. Jacques de Morgan also learned Malay, enabling him to communicate with local people in an ing manner. Often clad in Malay or Chinese attire, he must have madeSe an impression on those he encountered.
I have the impression that the biography could have contained more information about de Morgan in the East, instead of paying the attention it does to his exploits in Persia and Egypt. In addition, some more personal information about his life, family, and surroundings would have added to a more comprehensive appreciation of the work he did. Some information about his scholarly surroundings at his time might also have helped to put his achievements into context. These are, however, minor points. It is to be hoped that other scholars, or perhaps the present team, will find the opportunity to do more research on the subject, and that an edition of all the drawings and sketches made by de Morgan may one day appear. Contemporaries of de Morgan mentioned in the 'Avant-propos' (by Christian Pelras) ~ such as P. Ruck, Alfred Marche, Zavier Brau de Saint-Pol Lias, and others - would also seem worth more attention in order to gain insight into the Frendwnter-est and presence in the Malay world in the second half of the nineteenth century. Finally, it is a pity that the book is produced in such a way that one virtually has to break the spine if one wants to read it properly. In a book of this beauty and this price, such an important practicality ought *o have received more attention.