(Foreword by J. K. McCarthy): In New Guinea nature divided the land with almost insurmountable barriers.

(Preface to the first edition): As the field work on which this book is based lasted for about three years between 1949 and 1958 and documentary research was prolonged until 1961, I have inevitable incurred debts to many people.

(Preface to the second edition): In 1965, I returned to the Southern Madang District after seven years' absence, revisiting Madang, the Rai Coast, and the Bagasin Area.

(Introduction): The New Guinea cargo cult has attracted a great deal of public attention since the last war.

The term southern Madang District does not denote a socially or politically unified territory.