ank,
hinged at one end. One end of this is raised by a bejuca rope during the
day, while at night it is let down forming a solid floor throughout the
house.

"The roof is of shingles made from mountain cane; the floor and sides of
hand-hewn logs and planks; the roof is at no place more than seven feet
from the floor and is blackened on the inside from smoke. The largest
house visited in this locality was that of Chief Leuanan, and this was
some twenty feet square. These houses consist of one room and are
inhabited by two or more families."

AGRICULTURE

About the settlements are the fields in which rice, corn, camotes,
sugar-cane, and a small amount of tobacco, cotton and hemp are raised.
However, the crops are usually so small that even with the addition of
game and forest products there is, each year, a period closely bordering
on starvation. New clearings are frequently made near to the old, for
the primitive tools[128] with which the people work are ill-fitted to
combat the incursion into the open land of the rank cogon grass. Only
the exhaustion of suitable timber land for a new clearing, the
prevalence of an epidemic, or the near approach of a powerful enemy will
cause the people to move their homes from one district to another.

[128] These consist of a mall axe, working knife, and planting stick.

We have already referred to the important part the _limokon_ plays in
the selection and clearing of a new plot of ground,[129] and to the
offerings made to the spirits when it becomes necessary to cut down
certain trees.[130] The crops, aside from the rice, are planted and
harvested without further reference to the spirit world, but the
cultivation and care of this cereal can only be carried on according to
certain fixed conditions.

[129] See pages 173 and 177.

[130] Near Cateel the wishes of the spirits are learned by means of
cords. A number of strings are tied together in the center and the knot
is buried. The loose ends are then joined and if it happens that the two
ends of a cord have been tied together it is taken as a sign that the
spirits give their consent to the proposed clearing.

About November first, when a group of seven stars called _poyo poyo_
appears in the west, it is a signal for all who expect to clear new land
to begin their labors. By December first this constellation rises
straight above and it is then time to plant. This is further confirmed
by the appearance of a star known as _saba