40 THE MANOBOS OF MINDANAO— GARVAN (MEM ToJ? A xxm 



THE DOORWAY AND THE LADDER 



There is no door in a Manobo house. In the middle of one end of the house a small opening 

 is left scarcely wide enough for two persons to enter at one time. A notched pole leads up to this 

 opening. If the house is high, a certain amount of maneuvering on the part of one not accus- 

 tomed to it, may be required in climbing the pole, for there is seldon any rail to aid one and the 

 notches are not of the deepest. This is another of the Manobo's devices against enemies, for on 

 occasions of attack the inmates of a house can dislodge by a slight movement of this cylindrical 

 ladder any foolhardy enemy who might attempt, under protection of his shield, to make an ascent 

 during a fight. 



In the house of a chief or well-to-do Manobo, one frequently finds a crude ladder for the 

 convenience of the family dogs. 



INTERNAL ARRANGEMENTS 



The internal arrangements of the house are very simple. The one ceilingless square area 

 between the roof and the floor constitutes the house. There is no dining room, no kitchen, no 

 bedroom, no toilet. Even the little stalls erected by Mandayas for the married couples are very 

 seldom to be found. The owner of the house occupies the part farthest from the door, and 

 nearest the fire, while visitors are relegated to the part near the door. 



DECORATIONS 



No paint is applied to the house and, with the exception of a rude carving of the ridgepole 

 into the suggestion of a human head with a rudimentary body, there is no decoration in the 

 interior. On the outside, one frequently sees at the ends of the ridgepole, and set upright at 

 right angles to each other, two narrow, thin pieces of wood about 1 meter long. Along the sides 

 of these are cuttings which are intended to represent the crested head of a fowl, as the name 

 given to them indicates. 7 



THE FURNITURE AND EQUIPMENT OF THE HOUSE 



The Man6bo house fittings are of the scantiest and most necessary kind. The tenure of the 

 house may be brief, depending, as it does, upon a suspicion of danger or even on a dream. So the 

 Manobo does not indulge in the luxury of chairs, tables, or similar articles. The upraised 

 portion of the floor, or the floor itself, serves him as a chair and a bench. For a table he uses a 

 small board such as is so universally used throughout Mindanao by the poorer classes. Yet 

 many are the houses that can not boast of even this simple equipment. He has no bedsteads, 

 for the bamboo floor with a grass mat thrown over it affords him a cool and comfortable resting 

 place. He has a fair abundance of mats, but they are ordinarily short, being made according to 

 the length of the grass he happens to find. By day these mats are rolled up and laid aside on the 

 floor or upon the beams of the house. If left on the floor, they afford the family dogs, who 

 ensconce themselves therein, a convenient refuge from flies. 



He dispenses with the use of pillows, unless the handiest piece of wood or of bamboo can be 

 called a pillow. Lacking that, he lays Iris head upon the mat and enjoys as good a sleep, perhaps, 

 as his more civilized fellowmen. 



It is seldom, indeed, that he uses a mosquito bar, though wild abakd is abundant and his 

 wife is a weaver. The mosquito bars which are in use are made out of abakd fiber. As the cloth 

 for them, made on the ordinary loom, is less than a meter wide, and as much as 24 meters long, 

 it must be cut up into strips nearly 2 meters long and sewn together to form the mosquito bar. 

 It must be made of an odd number of pieces of cloth, for an even number is unlucky. A net 

 made of 11 or 13 pieces is considered especially lucky. The use of the mosquito bar is very 

 common among the conquistas of the Lake region. 



i Mm-an-uk from min-uk, a fowl. 



