It is the first volume in a three-book series devoted to the photographic work of Austrian scholar and ethnographer Hugo A. Bernatzik. Featuring 150 photographs taken during his 1932–1933 expeditions, the book presents striking portraits and scenes from Melanesia, the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Bali.
Portrait of a Bena-Bena man wearing a bird-of-paradise feather headdress, and a shell and bead necklace. Sigoyabu Village.H. Bernatzik, Südsee, 1944, 1960, pl. 58.A widow in mourning wearing a bast-fibre hood and a shell ring necklace. Domara village.Couples of dancers facing each other and dancing. Koraudi Village.The guest of the initiation festival bringing the sacred bonito canoe to the ocean. Gupuna village, Owa Raha Island.H. Bernatzik, Südsee, 1934, pl.12.Portrait of Charlie Küper. Gupuna Village, Owa Raha Island.H. Bernatzik, Südsee, 1935, pl.1; 1944-1949, 1960, pl.12.
D. Byer, Die Grosse Insel, 1996, p. 216.
T.Theye, Der geraubte Schatten, 1989, p. 145.