19. At other times poles are laid across a
re-entering angle of a house and used as a wood rack, without any
support from the ground. At the autumn season not only is the available
space of the first terrace fully utilized, but every projecting beam or
stick is covered with strings of drying meat or squashes, and many long
poles are extended between convenient points to do temporary duty as
additional drying racks. There was in all cases at least one fireplace
on the inside in the upper stories, but the cooking was done on the
terraces, usually at the end of the first or kikoli roof. This is still
a general custom, and the end of the first terrace is usually walled up
and roofed, and is called tupubi. Tuma is the name of the flat
baking-stone used in the houses, but the flat stone used for baking at
the kisi in the field is called tupubi.
Kikoli is the name of the ground story of the house, which has no
opening in the outer wall.
The term for the terraced roofs is ihpobi, and is applied to all of
them; but the tupatca ihpobi, or third terrace, is the place of general
resort, and is regarded as a common loitering place, no one claiming
distinct ownership. This is suggestive of an early communal dwelling,
but nothing definite can now be ascertained on this point. In this
connection it may also be noted that the eldest sister's house is
regarded as their home by her younger brothers and her nieces and
nephews.
Aside from the tupubi, there are numerous small rooms especially
constructed for baking the thin, paper-like bread called piki.
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