THE ECONOMIC ORDER

A rich family is one who has sawas, a house with a gate of carved stone. a large rice granary, an ornate family temple, and a well-built pavilion for guests.They may have some fine cloths put away and heirlooms in the form of gold jewellery, a kris with a gold sheath and handle set with precious stones and a number of silver or gold vessels, all of which can be pawned in one of the Government pawnshops in case of need.

In general the Balinese have little need of cash to procure the daily necessities of life. Normally the cost of living is extremely low and food and the requirements for shelter are produced by the Balinese themselves. A meal in a public eating-place may cost as much as twenty cents, but, having rice, the cash expense for food for an entire family in the home amounts only to a few pennies, perhaps only enough to buy salt and spices.

Fruit and vegetables are grown in the gardens adjoining the house; pigs, chickens, and ducks are raised at home to be killed on special occasions or for offerings which the people themselves eat after ,the gods have consumed the essence. Fuel consists of the fallen dry leaves and stems of the coconut trees.

The housing-problem is simple. Entire families live together n ancestral compounds, and a modest house can be built almost overnight out of bamboo and thatch at a very low cost. People with out means or without a house simply go to live with a relative, sharing a kitchen “ in exchange for small services and assistance in the general housework, or procure land from the village and gradually build their own household.

The daily clothing consists f a kamben, a piece of cotton worn like a skirt, and a head-cloth, with an added shirt or blouse in the more “ modern “ districts. A complete ordinary outfit of clothes costs about two guilders ($1.36 at the time of writing) : one guilder for the skirt, fifty cents for the headpiece and fifty cents more for the shirt. Amusements are free and transportation is mainly by foot, leaving medicines and luxuries to be bought for cash.

It was always a mystery to us how the Balinese made the money they seemed to spend so lavishly in extravagant festivals and in beautiful clothes. They never appeared to work regularly for ages, and outside of the market, in which alone business was transacted, they never seemed interested in commerce.

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