Model of a house

Ruma

Note: The following text is taken from a 19th-century collection catalog and, in its language and perspective, partially reflects colonial thought patterns. We present the text in its original version to make the collection's history transparent and promote a critical examination of the colonial legacy. Certain terms and formulations may be perceived as problematic today. A 2009 research project concluded that most descriptions are factually correct and still usable; only a few details were found to be inaccurate or incorrect. The results of this project were published in the following collection catalog: https://khm-wmw-tm-library.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1457155265

"514. House - "Ruma" 
A model of a common house, the typical form as they are found in the villages. It is completely of bamboo and roofed with palm leaves. All the houses of the Buginese and Makassars are built in this manner, only the privileged people and the nobles use wood as a building material, which is carved richly on the exterior and the interior. The roofing is the same, but more carefully done. All the parts of the house, both those of bamboo as well as those of wood are bound together with split rattan or split bamboo, the wooden parts usually fitted into each other. Iron nails are completely unknown, as is the case for iron generally: there is none used in any form at all. Wood, bamboo, palm leaves and/or grass and rattan are the only components which are used for the building of houses. All houses stand on stilts, or posts, nearly two meters high so that the houses are three meters above the ground which is certainly a very useful hygienic measure. At night heavy fogs and "miasma" rise from the ground but do not reach a great height so that with this method of building the people are able to lie above the poisonous layer of air. Besides, such a house, which hangs in the air, so to speak, can be cleansed from all harmful gases and vapours with just the smallest wind coming from any direction. The space under the house is where all the different domestic animals are kept and all sorts of garbage and all fluids are thrown or poured down from the floor of the house into this space so that it is not really distinguished by special cleanliness.
Either a wooden stairway or a ramp of planks or finally just a simple bamboo ladder will lead up to the entrance door on the front side of the house. All the houses have steep pitched roofs, with overhangs that reach far down towards the ground. The house of the common man, which he has built himself of bamboo, consists of first a narrow side room to which the entrance door leads at the front. The front end of this room serves as the kitchen, where the cooking is done on rocks which are set on a sand or earthen underground. The back part is used as the toilet. There is a small opening there in the floor of the house. The smoke must find its own way out either through the door or through the multitude of openings and cracks in the bamboo. The interior of the house is more or less filled with smoke, the walls of the kitchen-room are brown, sometimes even black from smoke. From this narrow kitchen room on the side of the house one reaches a large room which is for the daily life and daily business. Around the length of the walls there is usually a low bench of bamboo; the floor is covered with more or less fine mats, the walls are decorated with the weapons of the man of the house.
The main post of the house stands in the middle of the room, it is the sacred post, on which the various religious ceremonies are carried out, on which one brings sacrifices to the spirits and the gods. The floor of the whole house is also made of woven bamboo, as are the walls and the ceiling. It is elastic and sinks a bit so that one fears breaking through with every step. On the front side of the house and thus on the front wall of this large, first room, there are some or many high and narrow windows which reach to the floor. These not only have a lattice of bamboo or wood but also have wooden shutters on the outside which can be closed. Close to these windows sits the man of the house with his family with crossed legs in sweet contemplation, betel in his mouth, looking out at the village and passing the time with stories and song. Here in this large room the guests are received, all the festivities are held and the great banquets are organized. From this first, large room, which is accessible to everyone, one comes to two or more smaller rooms, the sleeping quarters of the master of the house and his wives and his family. No stranger may enter these rooms; anyone who would dare to enter here would pay for this with certain death. Naturally the back rooms also have some smaller rooms and the floor is carefully covered, and on top of those come the real sleeping mats or mattresses behind colored cotton curtains.
The house of a nobleman is slightly differently built; it is, as was mentioned already, completely made of wood. Up an inclined ramp one reaches first a small room which is built on the front side of the house, the ante-chamber, in which there are wooden or bamboo benches against the walls. There are always some slaves or servants sitting and resting on these, wrapped in their sarongs. From this ante-chamber one goes into the large hall, the reception and social hall of the house, which is furnished in a manner similar to that of the common man. In the middle the sacred post, along the walls benches, the walls themselves hung with valuable weapons, the floor covered with fine mats, in the front wall several high, narrow windows. This hall is as wide as the whole house and all the large festivities and ceremonies of the family take place here. From this hall one also enters the sleeping and living chambers of the nobleman, his four main wives and his family. From the back part of the house there is a covered corridor which is also on stilts and which leads to the outbuildings where the concubines, girl dancers, Bissus, slaves, all have their quarters. The kitchen and other extra rooms are found here. The interior of the front house of a nobleman is decorated with artful carvings, mostly brightly colored and richly gilded. The houses of the Buginese and Makassars are strewn around shady bamboo or palm groves; there are no paths or streets, the individual houses are connected by footpaths, the houses themselves surrounded by fruit and vegetable gardens. Only in front of the house of the nobleman or the village chief is there a large open space in which the sacred tree of the natives stands, the "Waringin" (Efeus benjamina), where official gatherings are held, festivities are celebrated; at the time of war the armed men of the village gather here. Normally there is also a mosque here, and a building for Muslim or heathen priests."

Translation of: Czurda, F. A. J. (1883). Catalog mit Erklärungen der Etnografischen Privatsammlung des Dr. F. A. J. Czurda in Postelberg (Böhmen). (p. 125-128). Wien, Wilhelm Braumüller