68 A NATUBALI8T IN CELEBES ch. iv 



prepared string, made from the gumutu or leaf fibres of 

 the same palm. These strips of wood were of various 

 thicknesses, and consequently the floor was very uneven 

 and irregular. The roof was very large, and covered 

 with ordinary attap of Arenga palm-leaves. In some parts 

 of Java attap is made from the allang-allang grasses, 

 but in Celebes invariably from palm-leaves, in the fol- 

 lowing manner. The pinnse of the leaves are first of all 

 separated from the mid-rib. The Arenga palm-leaves 

 are often fifteen to twenty feet in length, bearing 100 or 

 more pinnae on each side of the mid-rib. The pinnse are 

 about four feet in length, and from three to four inches broad 

 when fresh. A lath or rod of split bamboo or reed about 

 six feet long is then chosen and placed in a convenient 

 position, with each end resting on a wooden stool or 

 support. The pinnae are then folded evenly over the lath, 

 care being taken that each one slightly overlaps its neigh- 

 bour, and sewn together in position by rattan strings or 

 gumutu fibres. Each strip thus prepared is called ' faras 

 katu' (22). It is carefully dried in the sun and then put 

 aside until required for use. When a roof is made, several 

 hundreds of these ' faras katu ' are placed overlapping one 

 another like the slates upon an ordinary European roof, 

 and it is then called ' attap.' An attap roof is a far better 

 protection against sun and rain than slates or tiles, the 

 only serious disadvantage it possesses being that it affords 

 a cosy retreat for spiders, mosquitoes, and other vermin. 



My house contained three rooms, one of which I used 

 as a bedroom, the front one as a dining and sitting-room, 

 and the middle one, which was the darkest and coolest of the 

 three, as a library and store. All round the house was a 

 narrow verandah — well protected by the enormous roof — in 

 which I had a couple of tables set apart for microscope 

 work and writing. I had every reason to be satisfied with 



