The cocoanut not only furnishes them food but its oil is used for light and a
cooling, pleasant drinx is also obtained from it. The houses in that part of the
world are very much alike. The poorer class—and those include nearly all the
people —build entirely with bamboo and roof with palm leaves. No sound of
hammer is heard in building these houses; a saw and hatchet is all that is
. needed. The sawcuts the poles intoa required length. The hatchet splits
and dresses those that are to be used for siding and floor. The posts are set
firmly in the grounda few feet apart and some eight feet above the surface.
The first and only floor is laid a few feet above the ground; the rafters are set
at a moderate pitch. The poles and slats are tied together when necessary.
The palm leaf shingles that are then put upon them are fastened in the same
way. The leaves which are used for this purpose are from the mangrove; they
are long and narrow and while green are bent over a stick about three feet long,
so as to lie in courses. One of these leaf roofs, when laid well, will last from
eight to ten years without leaking. The houses have no windows. Upon one
side is a door that can be opened and shut at pleasure; this door is made of
basket work and serves to let in the light. The lower story of the house is
never enclosed. This is, they say, due toa fear of the overflow of rivers, the
fear of wild beasts and serpents and also the thought that sickness results from
living and sleeping onthe ground. It would seem that this mode of building is
rather a habit than anything else, as in every locality, even where there is no
danger of overflow from water or where are no serpents or wild beasts, the houses
are builtinthe sameway. If anativeis asked why the houses are built so high,
the usual answer is, ‘Our houses are frail and we build high to keep away from
robbers.” The door is reached by a light narrow ladder, which by night is
drawn up, and with the door tied the natives feel quite secure. No fire is ever
built in one of these dwellings; the cooking is done outside.. The furniture is
very meagre indeed; it seldom exceeds two or three grass mats, a couple of rush
pillows, a rice pot and frying pan of earthenware, a betel box and a spittoon.
The cost of these houses is not very great. They seldom exceed $12 or $15,
and one native reported to his employer, after an absence of four days, “that.
he had married a wife and built and furnished a house, all atan expense of $6.00.”
Not all the people of New Guinea are fortunate enough to have houses. Thou-
sands live, year in and year out, without a roof of their own to give them shelter,
with only the ground for their bed and the sky for covering. Nature has pro-
vided soabundantly for these people that they are but little disposed to provide
for themselves.