Many visitors, including Kathleen Haddon, photographed the towering architecture of the Papuan Gulf. Here, approaching the village of Maipua by water, she recorded the diverse heights of the buildings:

"The ravi at Maipua were of enormous size, the top of the gable being about sixty feet from the ground in some cases. Most of them had great screens over the entrance, and this, we found, was due to the fact that there was dancing going on inside in connection with the initiation ceremonies of some boys. Over the tops of the screens there bobbed four weird masks and the sound of drums and chanting came from within."