French ethnologist of Swiss origin born in Lausanne in 1902.
He undertook the first thorough studies of the people of Latin America, Haiti and the Easter Island. Let us quote: material Age of the tribes Tupi-Guarani (1928), Ethnology of the Easter Island (1935), Myths and tales of the Indians Matako (1939), the Easter Island (1941), Haitian Voodoo (1958).
It committed suicide in 1963 in France in the valley of Chevreuse. He was the founder and director of the Institute of Ethnology of Tucumðn, where he undertakes long studies devoted to Chiriguano, Toba and Mataco, then in Uro and Chipaya.