Gunnar Laxdtman. 



Interiör of loni^-house. 



house. A wide open gangway riins right 

 through the house from end to eml, on eacli 

 side of which are the firephices, consisting 

 only of a layer of clay on the floor. Each 

 family has a separate hearth, and round it 

 dwell the memhers of the household. Only 

 in a few houses a partition separates the 

 compartments of the différent families, hut 

 the stages which are erected över the hearths 

 and serve as shelves for the family belongings, 

 divide tlie house as if it were into stalls, 

 although tliey scarcely prevent one from seeing 

 from one wall to another. It is nearly dark 

 within the houses. There is no furniture, 

 one sits and sleeps on grass mats spread out 

 on the floor. 



In former times there existed in all 

 the large villages a separate house for the 



grovvn-up unmarried men, the „men's house", dctrimo, to which the women had no 



admittance except at certain cérémonies and dances. The married men according to 



désire slept in the ddrimo or in the communal house. The ddrimo was essentially a 



cérémonial structure, used at the many rites which took place indoors, especially those 



referring to war. 



More or less permanent huts 



are erected at distant plantations 



as well as at places which the 



people visit for fishing. 



The Måsingära tribe and 



other „bushmen" live in small huts, 



one for each family. Some of these 



huts are built on posts, others on 



the ground itself. 



Social Organisation. No 



distinction of rank exists in the 



Kiwai communities. The men are 



all on one and the same footing 



of equality, and there is no pro- Shelf över one of the fireplaces in a long-house. 



Tom. XLVIl. 



