Cy 
478 
are often 12 metres long by 6 wide, the ridge-pole being 2 metres from the 
ground in front but much less behind. A fenced courtyard 6 metres 
square is situated in front of each house. Houses are divided into two 
rooms, an inner and an outer. The inner, which is the common sleeping 
apartment and in which the weapons are kept, is furnished with solid 
wooden bedsteads, shaped in section like a Greek tt the whole hewn from 
a single tree. These often exceed 1.5 metre in width, and stand over half 
a metre from the floor, occupying lengthways a side of the room. The outer 
is the sitting and store room. In the midst is the fire where cooking is done, 
and round which wooden benches are placed; grain baskets are ranged 
along one side, a beer-tub stands in a corner opposite. Dogs, pigs, and 
fowls have free access from the courtyard where the cattle are penned at 
night and into which all refuse is thrown. The house is only approached 
through this yard which is so dirty that stepping stones are necessary in 
order to cross it dry-shod. The houses of the chief men of a village 
are distinguished from the rest by the beams of the rafter over the 
entrance not meeting under the eaves like a Greeks, but extending beyond 
like a Greek K \ the free arms projecting above the thatch are rudely 
carved to resemble buffalo-horns. 
The weapons used are the “dhao” or handbill, with spear and shields. 
A bamboo-tube or “chunga” full of “pangies” is also carried. The “dhao,” 
which is likewise the main industrial implement, is heavy, square at the 
end, and sharpened, like a chisel, with one bevel. It has a short wooden 
handle, and is worn, without a sheath^ in a wooden frog at the back. The 
other weapons are of two kinds, plaih ^nd decorated ;—the one for use, 
the other for show. When on an expedition a couple of spears, two 
metres long, are carried. The heads are 0.25 metre long, of thin iron 
with sharpened edges and unbarbed. The shafts are plain and shod with 
pointed spikes to balance the weapon. A similar spear, but only one 
metre long and with a smaller head and spike, is used by women and old 
men in climbing hills. The shield is an oblong framework of split canes, 
strengthened behind by a board. It is 1.15 metre high by 0.5 metre 
wide. The “chunga” for “pangies” is simply a joint of a large bamboo. 
One spear is thrown, the other retained for use, with the “dhao,” at close 
quarters. Spear-wounds seem to heal easily as compared with those 
caused by the sharp pointed “pangies” which are carried in order to 
stud the path and retard the enemy during the retirement of an 
attacking party. At festivals each warrior carries a spear with a head 
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