al rings and bracelets are entirely unknown
among the Negritos except where secured from the coast towns. (See
Pl. XXXVII.)

CHAPTER IV

INDUSTRIAL LIFE

Home Life

The general condition of the Negritos, although not one of extreme
misery, is indeed pitiable. Their life is a continual struggle for
sufficient food, but their efforts to provide for themselves stop short
at that; clothing and houses are of secondary importance. The average
Negrito takes little pride in his dwelling place. A shelter sufficient
to turn the beating rains is all he asks. He sees to it that the hut is
on ground high enough so that water will not stand in it; then, curled
up beside his few coals of fire, he sleeps with a degree of comfort.

The most easily constructed hut, and therefore the most common,
consists simply of two forked sticks driven into the ground so they
stand about 8 feet apart and 4 feet high. A horizontal piece is laid
in the two forks, then some strips of bamboo are inclined against this
crosspiece, the other ends resting on the ground. Some cross strips are
tied with bejuco to these bamboos and the whole is covered with banana
leaves. With the materials close at hand a half hour is sufficient
for one man to construct such a shelter. Where a comparatively long
residence in one place is contemplated more care may be given the
construction of a house, but the above description will apply to
many dwellings in a rancheria two or three years old. Instead of
two upright pieces make it four, somewhat higher, and place a bamboo
platform within so the occupants do not have to sleep on the ground,
and you have an approved type of Negrito architecture. Sometimes as
an adjunct to this a shelter may be erected in front, provided with
a bamboo seat for the accommodation of visitors. The more prosperous
Negritos in the long-established rancherias have four-posted houses of
bamboo, with roof and sides of cogon grass. The floors are 4 feet from
the ground and the cooking is done underneath the floors. A small fire
is kept burning all night. The inmates of the house sleep just above
it, and in this way receive some benefit of the warmth. If it were not
for these fires the Negrito would suffer severely from cold during the
night, for he possesses no blanket and uses no covering of any sort.

For two reasons he never lets his fire go out; first, because he likes
to feel the warmth continually, and second, because it is somethi