Every book has its own personal story and my book on the Jaqaj people is no exception. I collected my initial data at the time when the Dutch government was responsible for what is now lrian Jaya, a province of Indonesia. At the time that I worked in the field and gathered my information, I enjoyed the enduring interest and support of the late Mgr. H. Tillemans, m. s. c., archbishop of Merauke. I wish to dedicate this book to his memory. my studies, written in Dutch, appeared in 1958 A first summary of under the tide Papoea's aan de Mappi. Further research in the area persuaded me that some of my previous views needed correction and that publication of more data was necessary as weIl. In 1969 I finished the Dutch draft of the present book. For its translation I was very fortuna te to have help of my colleague Mr. M. van Dijck. It appeared that the text was too long and had to be reduced to better, workable my homework for the following years. The final proportions. That was draft was corrected by my friend Dr. W. Beek, former teacher of English at several colleges, and finally retyped by Father A. Bodden, m. s. c. I owe all of these people my sincere thanks for the many hours spent on this work.