chap, xv.] HOUSE BUILDING. 351 



having for five weeks taken all my meals uncomfortably 

 on the floor. Such things are trifles in health, but when 

 the body is weakened by disease the habits of a lifetime 

 cannot be so easily set aside. 



My house, like all bamboo structures in this country, 

 was a leaning one, the strong westerly winds of the wet 

 season having set all its posts out of the perpendicular to 

 such a degree, as to make me think it might some day 

 possibly go over altogether. It is a remarkable thing that 

 the natives of Celebes have not discovered the use of 

 diagonal struts in strengthening buildings. I doubt if 

 there is a native house in the country two years old and 

 at all exposed to the wind, which stands upright ; and no 

 wonder, as they merely consist of posts and joists all 

 placed upright or horizontal, and fastened rudely together 

 with rattans. They may be seen in every stage of the 

 process of tumbling down, from the first slight inclination, 

 to such a dangerous slope that it becomes a notice to quit 

 to the occupiers. 



The mechanical geniuses of the country have only dis- 

 covered two ways of remedying the evil. One is, after it 

 has commenced, to tie the house to a post in the ground 

 on the windward side by a rattan or bamboo cable. The 

 other is a preventive, but how they ever found it out and 

 did not discover the true way is a mystery. This plan is, 

 to build the house in the usual way, but instead of having 



