I occupied a portion of the open
corridor or main hall, which ran the length of the house and where
the unmarried men sleep. This long corridor was just thirty feet
in width, and formed by far the greater portion of the house; small
openings from this corridor led on to a kind of unsheltered platform
twenty-five feet in width, which ran the length of the house and on
which the Dayaks generally dry their "padi" (rice).
The other side of the house was divided into several rooms, each of
which belonged to a separate family. Here they store their wealth,
chiefly huge jars and brass gongs. The house was raised on piles fully
ten to twelve feet from the ground, the space underneath being fenced
in for the accommodation of their pigs and chickens. The smells that
came up through the half-open bamboo and "bilian"-wood flooring were
the reverse of pleasant. The entrance at each end was by means of
a very steep and slippery sort of ladder made out of one piece of
wood with notches cut in it, the steps being only a few inches in
width. One of these ladders had a rough bamboo hand-rail on each side,
and the top part of the steps was roughly carved into the semblance
of a human face.
In the rafters over my head I noticed a great quantity of spears,
shields, "sumpitans" or blowpipes, paddles, fish-traps, baskets and
rolls of mats piled up indiscriminately, while just over my head where
I slept was a rattan basket containing two human heads, though Dubi
told me he thought the Dayaks had hidden most of their heads on my
arrival.
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