6o PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



definite lengths which are fitted together by bolts and 

 screws, and form the skeleton of excellent houses. We 

 had nothing of the kind, but the jungle supphed plenty 

 of wood and our houses, though less regular than those 

 of the Dutch, were very soon built. It is easy enough 

 to put up the framework of a house in a place where 

 there is plenty of timber, but the walls and the roof 

 are a more difficult matter. Fortunately the natives 

 were adepts in the art of making " atap," which they 

 use for roofing their own huts, and they were soon 

 eagerly making it for us in exchange for our trade 

 goods. 



The best " atap " is made from the leaves of the 

 ,^ Nipa palm (Nipa fruticans) which grows abundantly 

 in the swampy country. Almost equally good " atap " 

 can be made from the Sago palm, but the leaves of 

 the Coconut palm shrivel quickly and are of no use for 

 the purpose. The method of the manufacture of 

 " atap " is briefly as follows : Leaflets of the palm are 

 stripped from the stem, which is then split into three 

 or four sticks of about an inch and a half in diameter 

 and five or six feet in length. The man begins by 

 taking up a leaf and folding it in the middle, thus break- 

 ing the mid-rib of the leaf. He then frees the mid-rib 

 from the surrounding leaf for a short distance and 

 breaks off a piece about three inches long for use pre- 

 sently. Then holding the stick near the end he pushes 

 the free end of the mid-rib, which is separated from 

 the leaf, into the soft substance of the stick and folds 

 the leaf once round the stick in such a way that its 

 two free ends lie one upon the other. He then clips 



