Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

196 HABITATIONS i-art ii
makes them easily visible, and hence soon shows where
the crocodile has gone after swallowing the bait. The
above type of pillow, however, is never seen now ;
stuff-pillows filled with cotton having replaced it.^
Houses and House Fttrniture.
Benua-Jakun of Johop.—According to Logan,
the houses of the Benua of Johor varied greatly in
size, neatness, and finish. They were much slighter
and more primitive than the huts of the Malays, the
greater part consisting only of one small room raised on
thin posts made of saplings, with a rough flooring
of small sticks placed at irregular distances, and some-
times with such large gaps between them that children
were liable to fall through. The sides were made of
bark,- and were generally enclosed all round, but
sometimes they had only a piece of bark here and
there, and Logan himself slept in houses three sides
of which were quite open. A rude and very narnnv
and steep ladder led to an open doorway. The roof
was covered with leaves, commonly those of the
" scrdang," which answer as well as the leaves of the
nipah palm, but last only half as long. The leaves of
the" Palas" and other palms were also occasionallyused,
and Logan was told that even padi-straw was some-
times collected for thatch. The floor was constructed
at various heights from 5-9 ft. (1.5 m. to 2.7 m.) above
the ground. In localities where elephants abounded it
was generally high. Houses of greater pretensions
were sometimes to be seen. On the Pau, Logan visited
a house which, under one roof, had a large hall with an
' Z./. £. xxix. (V.-St.) p. 189. chiefly used for this purpose, both in
2 The bark of the "kepong" was Johor and by the Berembun tribes.
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