[52 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



through a process of striking-, crack inn - and splitting- to make them 

 flexible, so that they ran be Laid down flat to form the "asug ka 



kawayan" (floor of large bamboo). 



The room farthest south had a platform floor, raised by a few 

 inches above the rest of the house floor, and the edge of this plat- 

 form served as a seat, it being the nearest approach to a bench 

 that the house contained. This room was occupied entirely by guests 

 from other towns with a few from the same village. They all sat 

 crowded close together, covering this slightly elevated platform. 



The next room to the north formed the center of religious rite-, 

 ami contained the sacred objects connected with the celebration. 

 Near the centre, the two ceremonial bamboos stood; the agongs 

 hung on the east side; the hanging altar was on the west wall, 

 and below it the sacred food was spread; a space on each side of 

 the two bamboo poles remained for the dancers. The dega-dega, 

 or high seat from which Oleng reviewed the ceremonial, was just 

 north of the balekat. 



The third room was utilized in various ways. Attached to the 

 east wall was the wide guest-lied of bamboo. It was 10 feet, 2 

 inches in length, and 4 feet, 1 inch in width, and would accommodate 

 a number of men, sleeping side by side, their bodies across the width 

 of the bed; that is. at right angles to the wall. As many more 

 could sleep on the floor below, just as in a lower Pullman berth. 

 <>n the floor beside the bed, the young men cut in halves ripe 

 cocoanuts, and mixed venison and flsh with cocoanut-meat. The 

 west side of this room caught the overflow of visitors, especially 

 young' girls who. with a few men. sat in well-packed rows on the 

 Moor. A narrow aisle, between the cocoanuts and the girls, made 

 possible locomotion from the north end of the house to the ceremonial 

 room. 2 "' 



In the fourth room, the women were tilling leaf-dishes with food 

 for all the people; piles of the leaf-dishes lav on the flour near 

 the west wall. < >n the east side was the vacant floor space used 

 by the older members of Oleng's family for rest at night. 



The last room to the north, and the smallest of the rive, was the 

 kitchen, which opened upon a very small porch. In the northeasl 



11 • The uprights and the long bamboo rods that formed the frame of the loom, from 

 which the last textile had been removed before the festival, kept their place against the 

 weal wall, in this third room. 



