Abstract
IN this volume Dr. Kaudern gives the first instalment of the results of an expedition, in the course of which some three and a half years were spent in the island of Celebes. He expects to complete his work in about ten volumes, each of which will be devoted to some aspect of native culture. Here he deals with the structures and settlements of N.W. Central Celebes, the home of the Mountain Toradjas. Some of the Toradja tribes have been visited by those well-known explorers, the brothers Sarasin, and by Dr. Kruijt. The author, however, so far as possible, confined his investigations to tribes which were practically unknown and untouched by civilisation. In regard to his special theme in this volume, his investigation was to some extent complicated by the slavery resulting from tribal warfare, which has affected the type distribution of houses and temples; but by a skilful analysis, which calls for no little praise, he has distinguished three types in the houses, paddy-sheds, and temples, oone of which is of recent introduction, possibly of Chinese origin, and of the remaining two, one appears to be the primitive type of which the form was determined originally by its location on swampy ground.
Ethnographical Studies in Celebes.
Results of the Author's Expedition to Celebes, 1917–1920. By Dr. Walter Kaudern. 1: Structures and Settlements in Central Celebes. Pp. xiii + 404 + 6 maps. (Göteborg: Elandrs Boktryckeri A.-B., 1925.) n.p.
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[Book Reviews]. Nature 116, 860 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116860c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116860c0