For personal adornment the Tugeri wear two crossed straps of dogs’ teeth strung together with grass. Each strap is about 3 inches wide, and is formed of nine parallel rows of teeth. The strap that rests on the left shoulder passes under the right armpit; that over the right shoulder passes outside the left arm above the elbow. The straps are lightly fastened at the point where they cross the breast. Round the right arm, just above the elbow, they wear a curious armlet. In the case of the richer tribesmen this is of shell, decorated with grass, or of grass decorated with shell. The breadth is from 5 to 6 inches. On the stomach to the right are two or three horizontal scars made by cutting or burning. These are self-inflicted for superstitious reasons. The lower part of the stomach is tightly drawn in (often extremely tight) with a coil of finely plaited fibre. This seems to be worn for elegance alone, and tight-lacing is a ruling fashion among the Tugeri dandies: the tighter the lacing the greater the dandy. From fifteen to sixteen years of age the young men are hopeless victims to fashion. The Tugeri go bare-foot, but wear grass anklets adorned with shells, which rattle like castanets as they walk. I observed, however, no dances, although these, I understand, are performed in their villages. For decency’s sake they wear a shell after the manner of the statuesque fig-leaf, and their costume is completed by a necklace of dogs’ teeth and small pieces of bone, such treasures as a savage prizes. Despite the natural ferocity of the Tugeri, the tribe is not without some rudimentary notions of courtesy, and they paid the Dutch on their arrival a similar compliment to that paid to Captain Cook, that is to say, they were good enough to offer to provide wives for the sailors from among their own women. Certain traders in British New Guinea are not above accepting this civility, for the possession of a native woman is often a valuable business asset. Some sandalwood cutters, for example, frequently make these left-handed marriages, for the mistress is influential in obtaining workers for her husband from among her own people. One sandalwood cutter, a Malay, who has made a large fortune at his trade, could always obtain double the number of labourers procurable by any other trader on account of his _liaison_ with a native woman, by whom he has a large family. His numerous Papuan blood-relations stand him in good stead in his business. The houses of the Tugeri are built of grass and bamboo. The walls rise to a height of about ten feet and are covered with a span roof. I observed their villages only from a distance, however, and never accompanied the Dutch soldiers on any of their expeditions. Some of the villages are very large, consisting of two or three hundred houses. Near the townships immense cocoanut plantations invariably occur, and these seem to form the chief wealth of the Tugeri.