HABITATIONS AND FURNITURE. 129 



houses in a village of the same tribe on the Jafiïri River, draining Lake Sentâni, are little better. 

 They hâve a square-shaped roof vvith rounded-off corners, the eaves reaching down to within 

 1 meter above the ground. The walls made from sago leaf stalks and piled-up dead wood, had, at 

 two opposite places, a low, narrow opening. In the darkness inside, where pigs and dogs were 

 running about freely, a couple of raised sleeping places, some earthenware pots from Poe, a 

 water bucket, like N°. 93 (PI. III, fig. 18), but only held together by a thorn, bamboo cylin- • 

 ders like N°. 100, for drinking water, also mentioned by Pratt [1906, 189], and the ladle 

 described above under N°. 98 (PL III, fig. 6) were seen. 



Thèse are the first permanent dwellings which hâve been met with in this part of 

 Xorth Xew Guinea, not belonging to the pile-dwellings. 



Temporary dwellings, and this „temporary" can be very elastic, are, on the 

 other hand, very often without the floor raised on pôles. This was found by the expédition 

 to be the case with the small houses in the gardens and also in a settlement on the island 

 Mios Kôrwâr of people from Maudor on Supiori, who had abandoned their homes on account 

 of continuai attacks. Although a good ,,rum sëram" (fig. 196) had already been built (see 

 Chapter XII), the establishment of the men, as on the background of fig. 76, consisted of a 

 small, long and narrow building, of less than a man's height, covered transversely with Pan- 

 danus 1 eaves and simply built on the shore, in the shade of the margin of the forest. 

 Hère also the sleeping frames, made from young stems, were arranged somewhat above the 

 ground. From the blackening caused by smoke, it could be made out. that this temporary 

 dwelling had been in use for a fairly long time. Similar simple dwellings, built on level 

 ground, hâve also been noticed on the S. W. coast by MODERA [1830, 78], only 5 feet high 

 and 6 feet broad, and also very long. 



The reason why the Papuan takes the trouble to build a pile-dwelling, may be 

 looked for in the greater cleanliness and the better hygiène obtained in this way, but also 

 in the greater security against man and beast, which such a dwelling affords. Pile-dwellings 

 in the water ofter the same advantages in a still greater measure, also by the natural System 

 of irrigation which removes ail refuse. The newly-built dwelling of the expédition on Metu 

 Débi, which was not standing on pôles, was soon swarming with mice, especially in the 

 corner, where the ethnographical basket with sago was standing; the same baskets appeared 

 to be quite safe in the pile-dwellings of Tobâdi, but nevertheless the fact remains, that the 

 young men in the temple kept small sized bows and arrows on purpose for this rodent. At 

 Waimara (Br. X. G.) houses were seen (ANNUAL REPORT [1898 — 99, 23]) with flat dises of 

 wood below the heads of the piles, to prevent rats getting up. TEN Kate [1895, 8] saw the 

 same on the pôles of rice-stores on Timor. 



The dwellings of the Manikion (figs. 72 — 74) hâve the longest pôles I ever saw, 

 being 6 — 8 meters long. Thèse houses are placed on the top of a moderately high hill, cleared 

 of trees; along the slopes the felled trees are left lying in ail directions, perhaps on purpose, 

 because they make a rapid ascent not a little difficult, and prevent a sudden attack, as also 

 remarked by Van DER GOES [1858, 224] of the dwellings in Amberbaken. The pôles hère 

 hâve about the thickness of a man's wrist, and are in such large numbers that it is impossible 

 to pass between them; besides many are standing crossways. The latter is also the case 

 with Arfak houses (VON ROSENBERG [1875, PI. XI]) and reported from the Insé delta, 

 Nova Guinea. III. Ethnography. 17 



