The first part of the three-volume ethnographic monograph covers the Carpathian part of the south-eastern Lesser Poland. In the nineteenth century, this region was inhabited by a few ethnic groups, and, besides Poles, the most numerous were the Łemki and the Bojki groups. Kolberg conducted his field work there at the end of his life, mainly in the years 1883-1885, when he already knew the Ukrainian dialects well. The records achieved from over a dozen places exhaustively characterize the material, social and spiritual culture of the population of the region. Part 1 - apart from a brief characteristics of the geographical environment - contains detailed data on the material culture and descriptions of customs of the annual cycle and family rites, including more descriptions of birthday rites than usual, with appropriate songs, speeches and melodies (totally, 659 songs and melodies). Besides his own notes, Kolberg utilized source works of Polish and Ukrainian folklorists (e.g., a collection of songs published by J. Hołowacki and ethnographic studies of J. Toroński). Kolberg’s original drawings (costumes, accessories, buildings) complete the ethnographic picture of the region.