Cambodge et Siam: Voyage et séjour aux ruines des monuments kmers

A French Navy commander, Auguste Filoz was assigned to the ​“Expédition du Mékong” (Mekong Mission), which led him to follow archeologists Etienne Aymonier and Louis Delaporte to Angkor. His travelogue, written in a vivacious and often tongue-in-cheek tone, remains an important document for several reasons:

- a vivid account on the daily life and creeds of the Khmer people before the colonization era

- the work of pioneer French archeologists in Angkor, casting Angkorian bas-reliefs in plaster (“moulages en soufre”, in French), and, at that stage, the limitations of Western knowldege about the scope of the Ancient Khmer civilization — it was then believed that the Angkorian monuments had fallen in ruins before completion…

- the navigation hazards on the Tonle Sap Lake

- the direct witnessing of how Angkor was still a revered and sacred site then (with, for instance, the cremation ceremony honoring a respected monk right in Angkor Wat) 

In his introduction to this reprint, researcher Olivier de Bernon noted:

Le récit du capitaine Auguste Filoz complète admirablement le Voyage au Cambodge de Louis Delaporte, le grand explorateur du site d’Angkor. Il donne, avec une simplicité amusée, toutes sortes de détails dont Delaporte lui-même né pouvait pas rendre compte dans l’ouvrage plus académique qu’on attendait du chef de la mission.
Publié initialement en 1876, le livre d’Auguste Filoz connait une certaine fortune au tournant du XXe siècle quand le ministère de l’Instruction publique en fait un prix aux écoliers méritants invités à s’inspirer du courage et de la modestie de l’auteur. En 1897, Louis Delaporte, devenu conservateur du musée indochinois du Trocadéro, passa commande au vieil officier d’une maquette du temple du Bayon d’Angkor Thom. Cette admirable pièce, entrée en 1901 dans les collections, est désormais exposée au musée national des arts asiatiques Guimet.

[Captain Auguste Filoz’s account admirably completes Voyage au Cambodge by Louis Delaporte, the great explorer of the Angkor site. He gives, with amused simplicity, all kinds of details which Delaporte himself could not account for in the more academic work that was expected of the head of the mission. Initially published in 1876, Auguste Filoz’s book enjoyed some success at the turn of the 20^th century when the Ministry of Public Education awarded it a prize to deserving schoolchildren invited to draw inspiration from the author’s courage and modesty. In 1897, Louis Delaporte, who had become curator of the Indochinese Trocadéro museum, ordered a model of the Bayon temple of Angkor Thom from the old officer. This admirable piece, entered into the collections in 1901, is now exhibited at the National Museum of Asian Arts Guimet.”