224 



CELEBES, 



[OHAP. XV. 



to stretcli myself on a sofa, and to take ray supjJGr com- 

 forttilily at table seated in my easy bamboo chair, after 

 liaviiig for five weeks taken all my meals nncomfortubly 

 on the floor. Such things are trifles in health, but when 

 the body is weakened by disease the habits of a lifetime 

 cannot be so easily set aside. 



My house, like aU baniboo sfcmctiircs iu this country, 

 wm a leaning one, the strong westerly winds of the wet 

 seasoD bavinf^ set all its posts out of the perpendicular to 

 such a degree, aa to make me think it might some day 

 possibly go over altogether. It is a remarkable thing that 

 the natives of Celebes have not discovered the use of 

 diagonal struts in strengthening buildings. I doubt if 

 there is a native house in the countiy two )'ears old and 

 at all exposed to the wind, wbicli stands upright ; and no 

 wonder, as tliey merely consist of posta and joists all 

 placed upright or horizontal* and fastened rudely together 

 with rattans. They may be seen in every stage of the 

 ]U'ocess of tumbling down, from the first slight inchnation, 

 to such a dimgerous slope that it becomes a notice to qnit 

 to the occupiei's. 



The mechanical geniuses of the country liave only dis- 

 covered two ways of i"emed)ing the evil. One is, after it 

 hiia coinmencedj to tie the house to a post in the ground 

 on the windward side by a rattan or bamboo cable. The 

 other is a preventive, but how they ever found it out and 

 (lid not discover the true way is a mysterj\ This plan is, 

 to build the house in the usual way, but instead of having 

 all the principal supports of straiglit posts, to have two or 

 three of theui chosen as crooked a^ possible. I bad often 

 noticed these crooked posts in houses, but imputed it to 

 the scarcity of good stiuight timber, till one day I met 

 Bome men carrying home a post shaped something like a 

 dog's hind leg, and inquired of my native boy what they 

 were going to do with such a piece oi wood. " To make a 

 jfost for a house," said he. But why don't they get a 

 straight one, there are plenty here?" said 1. "Oh," re- 

 ]»lied he, "they prefer some like that in a house, because 

 then it won't fall," evidently iuipuiing the effect to somvi 

 occult property of crooked timber. A little consideration 

 and a diagi'am will, however^ show, that the effect imputed 



