98 FURNITURE 



finding its way out through windows or door or slowly through 

 the rush or grass thatch, and so the house is generally black and 

 sooty above, long strings of cobweb and soot hanging down 

 from the roof. Such appendages were considered as marks of 

 long residence and honour, and so the phrase, mainly moldly, 

 lit. " black from soot," is a very honourable appellation, and is 

 applied to things ancient, such as the first Christian hymns ; 

 and missionaries who have been a long time resident in the 

 island are given this name as a mark of respect. 



The north-east corner of the house is the sacred portion of it, 

 and is called zdro firardzana i.e. the corner where the rdry or 

 war-chant was sung and where any religious act connected 

 with the former idolatry was performed, and in which the 

 sdmpy or household charm was kept in a basket suspended 

 from the wall. In this corner also is the fixed bedstead, which, 

 especially in royal houses, was often raised up some height 

 above the ground and reached by a notched post serving as 

 a ladder, and sometimes screened with mats or coarse cloth. 

 West of this, close to the north roof-post, is the place of honour, 

 avdra-pdtana, " north of the hearth," where guests are invited 

 to sit down, a clean mat being spread as a seat, just as a chair is 

 handed in European houses. 



There is little furniture in a purely native house ; a few rolls 

 of mats, half-a-dozen spoons in a small but long basket fixed to 

 the wall, some large round baskets with covers, and perhaps a 

 tin box containing Idmbas for Sunday and special occasions ; 

 a few common dishes of native pottery, and perhaps two or 

 three of European make ; a horn or a tin zinga, for drinking 

 water ; a spade or two these with the rice mortar and pounder 

 and winnower already mentioned the water-pots, and the 

 implements for spinning and wearing, constitute about the 

 whole household goods hi the dwellings of the poorer classes. 

 The earthen floor is covered with coarse mats, and sometimes 

 the walls are lined with finer mats ; in the roof an attic is often 

 formed for a part of or the whole length of the house and is 

 reached by a rude ladder. The floor of this upper chamber is 

 frequently covered over with a layer of earth and is used as a 

 cooking-place, with much advantage to the lower part of the 

 house, which is thus kept comparatively free from smoke and 

 soot. 



