Unter Kopfjägern in Central-Celebes : Ethnologische Streifzüge in Südost- und Central-Celebes

In August 1911 a German scholar set sail from Singapore on a spacious Dutch packet steamer, bound for the remote coast of Celebes. After a week of drifting along a tangled maze of islands, the expedition finally caught sight of the flat, unremarkable southern shoreline before pushing onward to the protected harbor of Makassar. From there the author embarked on a three‑and‑a‑half‑month trek into the island’s interior, cataloguing more than a thousand cultural objects and snapping hundreds of photographs of villages, rituals and the lush tropical landscape.

The narrative reads like a diary of discovery, mixing vivid descriptions of indigenous dress, head‑pieces and daily customs with reflective commentary on the challenges of travel in an almost untouched world. The author’s gratitude toward the Dutch colonial administration underscores the rare cooperation that made the journey possible, while his cautious admission of possible errors invites listeners to share in the wonder and uncertainty of early ethnographic work. This early‑20th‑century account offers a rare window onto the people and environment of Central Celebes before modern influences reshaped the island.