Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

478
DECORA TIVE ART
The central row is of special interest, as it shows
how the Sakai draw elevations as ground-plans. The
central figure represents a Sakai house, the structure
being raised on posts and lashed together with rattan.
The floor of these houses is raised, as a rule, two or
three feet above the earth, is of split bamboo, and a
roughly made wooden ladder leads up to it ; the
interior is divided by a partition made of split bamboo
slivers, tree-bark, or leaves. One of the rooms thus
formed (at the back) serves as a bedroom for the
married inmates, the other (the front one) being set
aside for cooking purposes, as well as for sitting in,
and for the reception of guests. At one end of this
front room is a small square wooden box, which
is filled up with earth to form the hearth. The
two gable-ends of the roof are filled in with palm-
leaves (" atap ") fastened to light slats to prevent the
rain from entering. The sides of the house consist
of upright sticks, with horizontal cross-pieces, to which
latter palm -leaves are fastened as before. Thus the
drawing is to be explained as follows :
A is the track leading to the house.
B is the house-ladder.
C^ the cooking-room.
—
C'- the sleeping-room.
D a doorway (without door).
E the partition.
F the hearth or fireplace.
G the side walls (except the front one).
H H the palm-thatched gables of the roof.
J the back gable-end.
The lowest panel with the dotted lines represents
a rice-field (" padi ") near the house.^
1 Z.f.E. xxvi. 175.