chieftain ("Wateh") structure, associated with "big men" and "warriors". Warriors often acquire and obtain larger holdings. Decisions are traditionally made by the men in the "men's houses" or (spirit houses) which were the biggest built structures of the clan. Women lived in a "family house" with their children. Many of the houses were destroyed during the days of the German administration.. The German administration also established a "luluai" and "tultul" system which has now been restructured as a ward system of local government. Spiritual life The Dumo people believed traditionally in two worlds, one is the world of the living, the second is the world of the dead. The living have a duty to maintain peace with the spirits of the ancestors who have departed. If they performed acts that were not acceptable to the living it would also be unacceptable to the dead. The living would know through dreams or visions that the dead were unhappy. In such cases sickness of children was seen as the spirits were unhappy. The long illnesses and death of a child was often seen as a result of parental stubbornness, and the spirits as a result would need to be appeased. The Dumo believed that the spirits of the ancestors did not depart but remained in close proximity helping and keeping an eye upon the living. Dreams play a significant role in the Dumo culture in foretelling events that are about to happen or in providing a message from the spirits of the dead to the living prescribing specific actions. Some people were believed to be more accurate dreamers than others, and they are able to confront others with a pointed message that is necessary to restore the victim of others to health. Today about 80% of the coastal people of the Dumo culture would be Catholic. The first missionaries arrived in Vanimo district in 1939. Since 1939 each village has a community cemetery, wheres previously they would be interred near the family houses. Previously the number of Catholics was almost 100% but the number has declined due to the arrival of American Pentecostal and evangelical missionaries. References Indigenous peoples of Melanesia Ethnic groups in Papua New Guinea