522 



spite of which, however, the natives attach to it a certain 

 importance, and are never in doubt as to who is the master of 

 a house (comp. chap, iv., sec. on Property and Inheritance). 



As the house is the scene of family life, this is the proper 

 place to give its description. 



Fig. 1. Showing the Mode of Preparing Boards. 



a. The trunk in section; a deep longitudinal groove has been 

 scooped out on one side. 



6. A second groove has been cut on the opposite side. 



c. The trunk split in two halves with three pairs of poles, 

 wedged into one of the grooves. The two halves are subsequently 

 planed with an adze. 



Houses and House-huilding. — The Mailu houses are built 

 on piles on dry land. They comprise two compartments — an 

 upper room, formed by the upper floor and by the oval-shaped 

 thatch, and the lower verandah, roofed by the upper floor and 

 open on all four sides (comp. figs. 3 and 4; also pi. xxviii., 

 fig. 2, and pi. xxx., fig. 2). The upper room is practically 

 closed all round, there being no windows or doors, access being 

 gained by a small opening in the floor, where one climbs up 

 by a ladder (the opening and ladder have not been shown in 

 the diagrams, figs. 3 and 4). The lower verandah is overhung 

 by the thatch, forming fairly long perpendicular eaves ; it may 

 also be sheltered on any side by portable screens, made of 

 pandanus mats (Elaki), plaited coconut leaves (Tsindu), and 

 reed mats (Eha), the latter being the kind used for sails. 

 (The verandah in the house on pi. xxx. is partially screened 

 with mats.) 



Both the verandah and the upper room are used as general 

 living places. The household members sleep, have their meals, 

 cook the food, and do their work either in the lower or upper 

 compartment — according to the weather. Of course, when 

 engaged in work the people prefer to sit on the verandah 

 because the upper compartment is dark ; whereas they sleep 

 usually in the upper room. But there is no sharp division of 

 functions between the two parts of the Mailu house, both 

 serving broadly the same purposes, according to circumstances. 



From the point of view of construction, the house consists 

 of three pra.ctically independent parts, each possessing its own 



