Near the door, or in one comer of the room, is a small box of earth in which several stones are imbedded. This constitutes the hearth, about which is found a miscellany of pots, jars, and other kitchen vessels. The smoke finds its way out through a small opening at each end of the roof, or through the narrow space under the eaves. There is no recognized arrangement of the room. Utensils[127] are scattered promiscuously about and when the inhabitants are ready to sleep they occupy such parts of the floor as are free or can be most easily cleared.
[127] These consist of baskets, rice mortars, and winnowers, weaving outfits, bark dye vats, as well as traps and weapons, nearly all of which are so similar to those already described for the Bagobo that they do not call for special notice here.
The people of a community build their houses within a short distance of one another, yet seldom so close together as to form a village. However, village life is not entirely unknown, for in the vicinity of Cateel Governor Bolton found six houses, partially surrounded by palisades, perched on the top of a conical hill.
Lieutenant Youngblood gives the following description of the people and dwellings seen by him near the upper waters of the Agusan river:
"The people seemed to be living in an atmosphere of fear as far as intercourse with the world outside their crater-like valley was concerned. They believed it was death to look upon the sea, of which they had heard disjointed tales, but which none of them had ever seen. They feared the coast people with a mortal fear, justified perhaps by the experiences of occasional meetings in times gone by. They fear each other to a certain extent, especially men who live further north of the headwaters of the Agusan. This ever-present state of fear gives coloring to their whole life. They take to the brush at the least unwonted sound. They make their clearings on the steep mountainsides and in these build two or three of their houses in strategic positions. In the very construction of their dwellings the idea of security in case of attack is predominant.
"The houses in this section are generally built in clearings on the sawn-off trunk of some giant tree and placed from the ground some forty or fifty feet. Numerous posts help support the structure, entrance to which is gained by a notched pole firmly set in the ground and held in place by tightly wound bejuca. Oftentimes this stair pole is bowed outwards slightly, which gives it a peculiar appearance and requires a considerable amount of skill in climbing. The front and only door to these houses consists of a section of the floor composed of hewn plank, 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.