THE II A I X A X E SE MI AO 43 



as you merely stick another fan under the thatch wherever 

 the water is dripping through. Sometimes bundles of a 

 heavy swamp grass are used, or the third alternative is 

 rattan. The big rattan branches are taken, stripped of 

 leaves on one side of the mid-rib, laid one above the other 

 with the leaves overlapping, and the whole section fastened 

 to the roof. This sort of roofing takes longer to prepare but 

 is probably the most durable of the three. ' 



The walls are the next problem. Often they are of 

 bamboo stakes driven into the ground close together and 

 chinked with mud up to the low roof. Sometimes they are 

 simply split bamboo woven into screens and fastened firmly 

 into place. No windows are left except tiny square openings 

 in the walls and these are by no means universal. One door 

 is left in the middle of the long front side of the house, a 

 bamboo screen with bamboo withes for hinges and an in- 

 genious bamboo latchstring. The eaves project two or three 

 feet over the roof edge in every direction. At the back they 

 thus extend almost to the top of the bank of earth mentioned 

 above. In the front they extend down so near the ground 

 that it is almost impossible to enter from that side, but a 

 simple matter to enter this tunnel-like verandah at the end 

 of the house and walk along close to the wall until the door 

 is reached. The pig troughs are usually situated under this 

 verandah, and the chicken coops also. Trough and chicken 

 coop are hardly the proper names for the articles though they 

 are used for those purposes. Their construction will be ex- 

 plained later. At one or perhaps both ends of the house the 

 roof is extended three or four feet and under the shelter thus 

 formed the household firewood, rice mortar, fishing and other 

 implements are stored. The cows, if the family possesses 

 any, are tied at night in a rude shelter near the house. 



The floor of the house is made of pounded mud, cracking 

 in dry weather and damp in rainy seasons. The general 

 division of house space is shown in the accompanying sketch. 

 Two stones make the fireplace and the crude iron skillet 

 rests on them while the fire is built on the floor. Long logs 

 are burned, being pushed into the fire as they gradually burn 

 away. The smoke finds an outlet wherever it can, as there 

 is no chimney. Above the fire a shelf of bamboo holds the 

 family supply of corn or whatnot that needs drying. Hang- 

 ing shelves on either side of the living room hold 'the family 

 property. The rice room has a floor of woven bamboo, about 

 a foot from the ground. As sons of the family marry, an- 

 other room may be built on to the original house, if the new 

 family does not set up a separate establishment entirely. 



