202 SIHANAKA HOUSES. 



doorway and the north-west comer. The bedstead is generally- 

 made of wood reaching from the ceiling to the floor, and 

 panelled all round, except a small opening, very like the door 

 of the house, through which the occupant creeps when he 

 enters or rises. They are doubtless very warm and — lively. 

 Suspended from the centre of the ceiling is a round piece of 

 board, with a hook or hooks hanging down below, to which 

 articles likely to be devoured by the rats are hung, whilst 

 other articles are put into baskets and ranged on a shelf 

 which runs the whole length of the north and east sides of 

 the house, a foot from the ceiling. When it is remembered 

 that all these things are packed into a space of nine or ten 

 feet by seven or eight feet, one may well wonder how in 

 such a house from six to a dozen people can find room to eat 

 and sleep, yet it is managed somehow." """ 



Door SIHANAKA 



N i 



Heart!' 



o 



Window 

 1 



Bed 



I S 



AY 



Door 



The Sihanaka houses, like those on the east coast, have 

 not one post only at each end of the house to support the 

 ridge, but three, with a sort of cross piece covering them. 

 And instead of one door and window on the west side, the 

 Sihanaka make two doors, these with high thresholds, divid- 

 ing it into three equal parts, and a low door on the eastern 

 side, just where the fixed bedstead is placed in Imerina. The 

 bedstead is at the south-east instead of the north-east corner 

 and the hearth at the south-west corner instead of towards 

 the north, as in the Hova houses. 



Among the people of the southern-central provinces, the 

 Bara, and those adjoining them to the west, Mr. Richardson 

 says that the houses are built with doors always facing the west, 



* "The Betsileo : Country and People;" by G. A. Shaw, Antananarivo 

 Annual, No. iii. p. 83. 



