This book is at once a detailed ethnographic and historical analysis of one of the final modern-day experiences of first-culture contact, a classic example of historical geography, and an extraordinary tale of exploration, imperialist arrogance, blood-shed, suffering, courage, and near disaster. By the 1930's, the interior of the island of New Guinea, protected from outside penetration over the centuries by its rugged mountains and unruly rivers, remained one of the few places outsiders had never seen. In early January of 1935, the Papuan colonial administration dispatched patrol officers...