Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/73

 render the place somewhat the reverse of wholesome. To this it must be added that much of the refuse from the house is simply thrown in there instead of being conveyed to the dung-heap by the gutter above referred to. Most contributions of this sort come through the guha, a hole pierced in the floor of the back verandah to receive odds and ends of refuse wet and dry, but which also serves as a latrine for children and invalids! Besides this, the floor of every inner room (jurèë) is furnished with a long open fissure over which the dead are laid to be washed, so as to let the water used in the ablution flow off easily.

Notwithstanding all this, the yub mòh is also used as a temporary resting-place for human beings. If there are children in the house, a large swinging cradle is hung here for their use. Here too the women set up their cloth on the loom and perform other household duties, for which purpose a certain portion is partitioned off by a screen (pupalang). At festivals some of the guests are entertained in the same place; and here it is customary to receive visits of condolence for a death. Some chiefs keep imprisoned in the yub mòh those who refuse to pay the fines imposed on them.

At the foot of the steps leading up to the house (gaki reunyeun) there always stands a great earthenware water-jar (guchi). Close to this is a hooked stick planted in the ground to hold a bucket (seuneulat tima) and a number of stones rather neatly arranged. Anyone who wishes to enter the house places his dusty or muddy feet on these stones and pours water over them from the bucket till they are clean.

Where there is a separate kitchen (rumòh dapu), a flight of steps leading down from this allows the inmates to quit the house from the back, but as a rule the steps in front are the only means of egress, so that the women must traverse the front verandah every time they go out of doors.

Some houses have a wooden platform surrounding the foot of the steps and protected by the penthouse roof which covers the latter. It is set against the side of the house and stands a little lower than the floor of the front verandah. This serves the inmates as an occasional place to sit and laze in and also for the pursuit of parasites in one