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Anticlimax. The Dutch rulers of Western New Guinea have discouraged headhunting, so the elaborate buildup generally ends at this point. The ancestor poles are taken out into the sago forest and left to rot. Perhaps the souls of dead ancestors go away with them and cease to annoy the living; perhaps their decay helps the procreation of the sago trees. The Asmat are well aware that all this is an anticlimax, but when the Dutch leave New Guinea, as they soon must, the ceremonial may culminate as of old in a real head-hunting raid on a neighboring tribe. If it is successful, the warriors will return holding the severed heads in front of their genitals, the better to emphasize their virility to the worshiping women.