HABITATIONS AND FURNITURE. 147 



the figures of animais and human beings on thèse objects were without any meaning. 

 The Papuan is so loath to talk about his religious convictions, that it will, no doubt, be very 

 dirficult to find out ail this. The people of Mios Kôrwâr called the horizontal Telamones 

 a inân", which, curiously enough, means, "bird" in the Numfor language. The head support 

 of Lake Jamûr (N°. 553, PI. XVIII, fig. S) clearly shows the influence of Geelvink Bay, al- 

 though the Telamones hâve been dropped; in its place ornaments of horseshoe-shape, such as also 

 occur on head supports of De Clercq and Schmeltz [1893, PI. XVIII, fig. 2; PI. XXI, 

 fig. 4], hâve been added. The name ^aruda" reminds one of "arua", according to the same 

 [Le, 87] the name on Jâpen. On this island and along the eastern shores of Geelvink Bay, on the 

 Schouten Islands and in Pigajap, De CLERCQ [1. c. PL XVIII — PL XXI] lias collected head supports 

 which clearly demonstrate the transition between the monoxyle and the composite types. 



I hâve never noticed that Papuans slept outside the house proper under lean-to's, as 

 observed in Astrolabe Bay (KRIEGER [1899, 153]). Neither hâve I ever noticed fires under 

 the dwelling proper, in order to drive away the mosquitoes (D' ALBERTIS [1SS0, I, 393], Mac- 

 GREGOR [1897, 86]). With the Manikion I saw the fires smouldering under the raised sleeping 

 frames; possibly they are also intended for warming and it is to this System of heating that 

 MACLAY [1873a, 248] attributes the many diseases of the respiratory organs. Where covering 

 is required, beaten bark is used as a blanket, whilst mats are used to lie on (MACGREGOR 

 [1897, 50]). In H. B., on Lake Sentâni and surroundings neither mats nor blankets are in 

 regular use. At least the men sleep on the common flooring (see also FlNSCH [18S8, 354]), 

 which is kept very clean. Vax DlSSEL [1904, 950] relates of a Papuan, who heated some 

 stones in a fire, and when going to sleep pushed his feet between the warm stones. 



Tables or anything like that, I hâve never seen in the houses, neither hâve I ever 

 met anywhere with the scaftbldings, placed in front of the houses, as described by FÎAGEN 

 [1899, 201, 244, PL 36], and exclusively intended for the men. 



The décoration of the houses in the territory visited by the expédition, is generally 

 of very small importance. From this the temples and other public bnildings must 

 be excluded. On the other hand it is not uncommon to carve into human or animal 

 shapes the pôles of the dwellings and of the stages.- 1 already mentioned above, the carved 

 pôles in a house of Asé; still more beautiful ones are possessed by the "community house" 

 there, where moreover one of the stage piles near the entrance is carved into a cassowary 

 turned outwards. A similar bird figure was seen in a women's house (?) at Ajâpo, where KONING 

 [1903, 275] saw a représentation of a woman in childbirth, also occurring on a supporting 

 pôle of the platform at Tobâdi, where a gangway conducts to the house of the village chief ; 

 over it a crocodile was carved. Private houses with a horizontal roof pôle hâve thèse some- 

 times lengthened and carved into fish shapes (see the roof pôle, of the house near the child's 

 grave, in fig. 168). Décorations suspended outside the house I saw but once, namely at Hiri 

 (fig. 72J, in the shape of a string of Megapodius eggs, hanging down in front from the roof- 

 pole, mentioned by THOMSON [1892, 124] of a temple at Daumori. BlRO [1891, 23, 24, 

 figs. 4, 3] saw at Tsinjadi cassowary eggs applied in the same manner and considers them, 

 just like the similarly suspended parts of animal skeletons, simply as the remnants of meals. 



Of the articles to be discussed next, ail found in the eastern part of the Netherl. north 

 coast, inside the houses or offered loose for sale, it might be doubted of some (the human 



