Vegetation of Southeast Asia Studies of Forest Types 1963-1965

egion, about 20 percent; and in North Vietnam, also in great part
mountainous, only about 30 percent of the land is cultivated.
In both North and South the highest concentration of population
is in the rice-producing areas of the deltas and plains. This ranges
•frofM .about '-,'^0 innabitants per square mile in the rice land of the
Mekong delta, to an average of more than 1,500 in the central region,
and almost 1,800 in the Red river delta of T.orth Vietnam. In other
areas the population density drops to 20 or 25 inhabitants per square
mile, while soma comparatively lar^e zones are totally uninhabited.
There are several reasons for this diversity, but the predominant
factor is the deep-rooted attachment to theix- ancestral homeland.
In funeral the people axe reluctant to leave their relatives, friends
and the village where their ancestors lived. Also, those accustomed
to the lowland plains are hesitant to move, even for temporary periods,
to upland areas.
Far from beinr* divided into Buddhists and Catholics, the inhabitants
of Vietnam include an extraordinarily diverse number of tribes and
faiths. There are one million Montagnards (mountain people) who hav..-
little resemblance to the more Mongol-looking Vietnamese of the plains.
There are 3 million Confucianists arid ancestor worshippers, a holdover
from the 900-year Chinese rule. Taoists number about 500,000. The
followers of the strange Cao Dai religion who worship Joan of Arc and
Victor Hu.njo as well as Buddha, number at least a million and a hylf.
There zire 500,000 members of the Hoa Hao faith, which is a mixture of
animisn, miracle working and Buddhism. Catholics number a million
and a half. There are 500,000 other Christians including Baptists,
Mennonites, Seventh Day Adventists and converts of the Christian
and Missionary Alliance. Finally there are 500,000 Hindus and Moslems,
includirg the people of tho non-Mongol Cham tribes.
The result is that out of the lU million people in South Vietnam
9 millions are not Buddhists. This leaves 5 million Buddhists, or
slightly more than 33 percent of the total population.
Forests: According to French publications there are more than
1,500 species of woody plants in Vietnam, varying in size from mere
shrubs to lar^e trees; from hard-stemmed reeds to pains and bamboos;
and many species of woody vines or lianes, and herbaceous plants.
These furnish timbers ana minor forest products of diverse typos which
hove long played an important part in the local economy as well as
for export.
In the aggregate the dense and open forests, savannas, brushland
and bamboo brakes cover approximately '+0 percent of -cne total area
of Vietnam.
In most areas the forests are mixed, represented by a large number
of species within an area of a square mile. . Kain forests are re-
.Vxtively limited, while pure stands are few. The nearest approach to
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