DYAK HOUSES. 171 



of the different villages combine to repair or rebuild 

 them all at the same time, their houses and terraces 

 have always an uniform appearance, and are all of the 

 same size. In the interior arrangements of their 

 houses the fire-places, of which there are two, are 

 placed on each side of the principal entrance; each 

 is formed of a kind of shallow box, or framework, of 

 strong pieces of wood filled with clay; this is sup- 

 ported on strong wooden posts reaching through the 

 flooring to the ground, and extending to the top of 

 the house. On the clay are four or five stones 

 of a convenient size, which serve for sustaining the 

 cooking pot over the fire, which is placed in the space 

 left between them, and is always of wood, a large 

 supply of which, split and ready, is always kept dry on 

 another framework above the fire-place, and supported 

 by the same posts. This it is the duty of the women 

 constantly to replenish from the trees which have 

 been felled in clearing the ground, and which are 

 strewed abundantly all over their farms. As the roofs 

 are high in the centre, and slope at a sharp angle, 

 much room in the top of the house is rendered avail- 

 able by the Dyaks, who erect another flooring over 

 the one they constantly use; thus they have a large 

 and useful loft where they stow their baskets, mats, 

 and implements of agriculture during the season they 

 are not in use. As may be supposed, people in their 

 state of barbarity have little need of furniture, which 

 for the most part is used to administer to the purposes 



