The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

2o8 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
the following way. A deep groove is cut along one
side, and wedges of hard tough wood are driven
in with rough heavy mallets. Deep transverse
grooves are then cut in the rounded surface of each
half at intervals of three or four feet ; and the intervening
masses of wood are split off. In this way
it is whittled down until it is only some six
inches thick. The plank is then trimmed down to
the desired thickness by blows of the adze struck
across the direction of the grain. The two ends are
generally left untrimmed until the plank has been
transported to the site of the house and has lain
there for some time. This prevents its splitting
during the journey to the house and the period of
seasoning.
When the floor has been laid, it only remains to
make the main partition wall which separates the
gallery from the rooms along the whole length
of the house, and the walls between the several
rooms. These walls are made only some eight or
nine feet in height. The wall of the gallery is
made of vertical planks lashed to horizontal rails
whose extremities are let into the columns of the
anterior set of the double median row. The wall
thus divides the house into a narrower front part,
the gallery, and a broader back part ; the latter is
subdivided by the transverse walls into the series of
rooms each of which accommodates one family.
The work of construction is carried on by all the
men of the house ; the women and children lend
what aid they can in the way of fetching and carry-
ing, and in preparing rattans. The ownership of
each section is arranged beforehand ;
the section of
the chief being generally in the middle, and those of
his near relatives on either side of it. Each man
pays special attention to the construction of his own
section, and carries out the lighter work of that
part, such as laying the shingles, with the help of