I was determined to bring you back something from Mongolia, and despite the difficulties of travelling in a country without roads, I was lucky enough to encounter five Mongol villages where I found these really interesting nomads…. I was received in each village… by the chief who invited me into his tent. I had to sit on the ground, legs folded beneath me, and drink “koumis” – a horribly bitter, sickly liquor made of fermented mare’s milk. I managed to overcome my disgust and so thankfully was able to take pictures of tents, men and women. The women didn’t want their picture taken, but they were ordered to by the chief, who did everything he could to make me happy. These Mongols have a fierce pride not found among the Chinese – it was impossible to offer them anything in return, and it would have angered them to insist.

An excerpt from a letter to Albert Kahn from Stéphane Passet, dated 24 July 1912.

Image and text from The Dawn of the Color Photograph: Albert Kahn’s Archives of the Planet by David Okuefuna.