IN BURU. 



395 



Their houses were of the most miserable description, fairly 

 well-roofed but without any furniture or conveniences, with the 

 exception of a narrow platform raised a few feet above the 

 earthen floor for sleeping on. Behind each house I observed 

 a small thatched structure which 

 they called the Matakau, the 

 sacred place of the Alefuru 

 wherein, by burning dammar, 

 he propitiates the Great Spirit 

 Allah Stalla. The Matakau is 

 a small platform erected on a 

 short pole and roofed over with 

 palm-leaf thatch from whose 

 eaves all round hangs down a 

 long fringe of split-up palm 

 leaflets. Inside are preserved a 

 knife, a spear, a Kau turin or 

 thick walking-stick constantly 

 carried by the natives on tlieir 

 journeys (with these they are , 

 adepts at quarter-staff; I was 

 much amused by seeing two 

 children practising with singu- matakau. 



lar skill their cuts and guards, quite unconscious of being 

 watched), a dish containing siri, betel and chalk, and a piece of 

 scarlet cloth. Before sowing any of their fields, some of the 

 seed is always placed inside the J\Iatakau, dammar is burned, 

 and their ritual performed in order to secure its fructification. 



Their most dreaded and respected oath is made, holding the 

 sharp top of a sago palm leaf in the hand, on the sacred knife 

 and spear taken from the Matakau ; for they believe in the power 

 of these pomali-weapons to harm them at any unguarded 

 moment. Another form of adjuration is in drinking after 

 making their declaration, water in which had been placed salt 

 (that they may melt away), a blade of Kussu-grass (that they 

 may be scarred as by its edges), a lance and a knife (that 

 their bodies be pierced, cut and run through) if they have 

 sworn falsely. 



Proceeding on our waj', we camped for the night in the 

 forest under a canopy made of the long leaves of the sago- 



