''this paper descrIbes the author's methods of handling unsophisticated informants while investigating the Teleefool language spoken by about 4000 people in the vicinity of Telefomin, Territory of New Guinea. The discussion includes several aspects of field methodology that have received scant attentIon in the literature to date: linguistic surveys, pair testing for phonology, monolingual informants, and the uses of tape recorders.'' (Healey, 1964: 1)