EVERYDAY LIFE IN BALI

THE HOUSE

Such is the general pattern of the home of a family of the average class that has ricefields and is economically comfortable. The better homes often have more elaborate pavilions, one of which may become a lodji (a Dutch word) by enclosing half of the pavilion with four walls, leaving the other half as an open veranda. This will provide a second slceping-quarter for a maried son. In the houses of the well-to-do the social hall is often great square pavilion (bale gede) with an extraordinarily thick thatch roof supported by twelve beautifully carved posts.

A well built bale, the arehtype of Balinese construction, is a masterpiece of simplicity, ingenuity, and good taste. It consists of a platfom of mud, brick, or stone reached by three or four steps and covered by a cool roof of thick thatch. The roof is supported by more or less elaborate wooden posts (hang) , the number of which determines their name and function.

Thus a bale is called sike pat, sekenam, tiang sang a, or bale gede,according to whether there are four, six, nine, or twelve posts. Definite rules dictate the dimensions and designs of these posts, 23 lengths of the index finger (tudjoh) , or about seven feet, being the standard height of a house post. It has already been mentioned that the house must stand “ upright “; that is, the bottom of the posts should be the end nearest to where the roots were in the tree.

The roof is built of lalang grass sown on the long ribs of coconut leaves, placed close together like shingles and lashed to the bamboo skeleton of the roof with indestructible cords of sugar-palm fibre, with an extra thickness of grass added to the four corners.

Then the roof is combed with a special rake and the lower edge is neatly evened with a sharp knife. Such a roof, often a foot and n half in thickness, will last through fifty tropical rainy seasons. The beams that support the roof are ingeniously fitted together without nails, and are held in place with pegs made of heart of skeleton of the roof with indestructible cords of sugar-palm fibre, with an extra thickness of grass added to the four corners.

Then the roof is combed with a special rake and the lower edge is neatly evened with a sharp knife. Such a roof, often a foot and n half in thickness, will last through fifty tropical rainy seasons. The beams that support the roof are ingeniously fitted together without nails, and are held in place with pegs made of heart of.

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