184 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XII. 



unwonted sound. They make their clearings on the steep mountain- 

 sides and in these build two or three of their houses in strategic posi- 

 tions. In the very construction of their dwellings the idea of security 

 in case of attack is predominant. 



"The houses in this section are generally built in clearings on the 

 sawn-off trunk of some giant tree and placed from the ground some 

 forty or fifty feet. Numerous posts help support the structure, entrance 

 to which is gained by a notched pole firmly set in the ground and held 

 in place by tightly wound bejuca. Oftentimes this stair pole is bowed 

 outwards slightly, which gives it a peculiar appearance and requires 

 a considerable amount of skill in climbing. The front and only door 

 to these houses consists of a section of the floor composed of hewn 

 plank, hinged at one end. One end of this is raised by a bejuca rope 

 during the day, while at night it is let down forming a solid floor 

 throughout the house. 



"The roof is of shingles made from mountain cane; the floor and 

 sides of hand-hewn logs and planks; the roof is at no place more than 

 seven feet from the floor and is blackened on the inside from smoke. 

 The largest house visited in this locality was that of Chief Leuanan, 

 and this was some twenty feet square. These houses consist of one 

 room and are inhabited by two or more families." 



AGRICULTURE 



About the settlements are the fields in which rice, corn, camotes, 

 sugar-cane, and a small amount of tobacco, cotton and hemp are raised. 

 However, the crops are usually so small that even with the addition of 

 game and forest products there is, each year, a period closely bordering 

 on starvation. New clearings are frequently made near to the old, for 

 the primitive tools 1 with which the people work are ill -fitted to combat 

 the incursion into the open land of the rank cogon grass. Only the 

 exhaustion of suitable timber land for a new clearing, the prevalence 

 of an epidemic, or the near approach of a powerful enemy will cause 

 the people to move their homes from one district to another. 



We have already referred to the important part the limokon plays 

 in the selection and clearing of a new plot of ground, 2 and to the offer- 

 ings made to the spirits when it becomes necessary to cut down certain 

 trees. 3 The crops, aside from the rice, are planted and harvested 



1 These consist of a mall axe, working knife, and planting stick. 



2 See pages 173 and 177. 



3 Near Cateel the wishes of the spirits are learned by means of cords. A number 

 of strings are tied together in the center and the knot is buried. The loose ends are 

 then joined and if it happens that the two ends of a cord have been tied together it 

 is taken as a sign that the spirits give their consent to the. proposed clearing. 



