1. Arm-band of Fibres, ornamented with Cowry shells.
2. Part of Waist-band, ornamented with shells and seeds.
3. Arm-band of Fibre.
4. Basket of plaited strips of leaves.
5. Bamboo ornament worn on the neck.
6. Collar made of Fibre and Cassowary Feathers.
7. Bamboo tobacco-pipe, used by the Tapiro Pygmies.
8. Basket of Fibre.
9. Part of the bill of a Hornbill, worn in the Nose.
The Dutch people have an inborn preference for low-lying land on which to place their stations, but not the most enthusiastic fenman would have voluntarily chosen Merauke as a place for a settlement. The reason of its existence is a political one. Formerly the natives of the district, the Tugeri, a very fierce and warlike people, used to have the habit of making raids to the Eastward into British territory, whence they brought slaves and the heads of their fallen enemies. This became such a nuisance that the Australian Government addressed protests to the Dutch about the lawless behaviour of their subjects, and in 1902 the Dutch made the station of Merauke, and established there a small garrison of about one hundred men. The place was chosen partly because it was in the centre of the district of the Tugeri, and partly because on that shallow coast the Merau River alone offered a safe harbour for ships. It is a dreary enough place on the muddy bank of the river and surrounded on the other sides by swamps, but the Dutch have made the best of a bad job, and by laborious ditching and dyking they have made the place fairly secure from floods; in spite of all their draining, however, there are more mosquitoes there than in any other inhabited place I have ever visited.