196 



SUMATRA. 



[chap. VIII. 



times covered with exceedingly tasteful carved work, and 

 this is still more the case in the district of Meuangkabo, 

 further west. The floor is made of split bamboo, and is 

 rather shaky, and there is no sign of anything we should 

 call furniture. There are no benches or chairs or stools, 



CHIEF S HOUSE AND EICE SHED IN A SUMATKAN VILLAGE. 



but merely the level floor covered with mats, on which the 

 inmates sit or lie. The aspect of the village itself is very 

 neat, the ground being often swept before the chief houses ; 

 but very bad odours abound, owing to there being under 

 every house a stinking mud-hole, formed by all waste 

 liquids and refuse matter, poured down through the floor 

 above. In most other things Malays are tolerably clean — 



