| caption: |
Chapter One. The Material Background |
| caption: |
a normal Thenkoh house, that of Yonyang |
| text: |
The type of house prevalent in most villages of the Thenkoh group can best be illustrated by describing the house of a moderately wealthy man of Wakching, Yongang, one of the leading figures of the Thepong morung. |
| text: |
Yongang's house stood in a street which led from the Thepong morung to the center of the village. The street was about 12 - 15 feet wide, and the houses on either side were built so close together that their eaves almost touched. |
| text: |
The front of the house was roughly semicircular, and in its center lay the entrance, some 4 feet wide. Stepping over a low bamboo barrier, placed in the doorway to keep out stray animals, one found oneself in a porch some 16 feet broad and 7 feet deep. The left corner was partitioned off as a pigsty, and to the right a stout wooden door opened into a corridorlike hall, which occupied one side of the entire length of the house. It was some 33 feet long and about 6 feet wide, and here stood a rice-pounding table, 10 feet long, which had been carved from a single block of wood. Half-way down this hall, a large opening gave access to the living room. This was the room in which the family lived, where all meals were cooked and eaten, where guests were entertained, and where the women did most of the housework. In the center was the hearth of three stones and about 3 feet above it a plaited-bamboo, two-tiered tray hung from the roof rafters. The bottom shelf was used for drying rice, and the top shelf for storing foodstuff out of reach of the rats. The floor of this room, which was of pounded earth, was partly covered with bamboo mats. |
| text: |
Close to the hearth stood a small stool for the use of the householder, and there were bamboo bunks standing against the walls. One of these Yongang shared with two of his children, while his wife slept with two other children on a bed at the opposite end of the room. |
