Sarimani offers a grand tour and shows his sapau (house) with pride. It is windowless, long and narrow, about twenty-five feet by fifteen feet. The first room, a veranda, is open on three sides with benches on two. This is the common room during the day and the men's sleeping quarters at night. We will also sleep here under mosquito nets ported in for us.

Up one step in the back into another large room with an open hearth and black cauldron resting on stones. The family cooks its meals and eats here. A single doorway provides access to a third and final room. It also has a hearth and is segmented into compartments by two-foot high, plank walls. Women and children sleep in this room. Mentawai daily life and work is organized according to gender. I've already noticed that my contact with women is much less common than with men.

Sarimani points at some familial possessions: cooking utensils, woven baskets, bows, and arrows. Carved wooden fetishes, which protect the sapau and its occupants from "sanitu" (evil spirits), hang from the rafters along with ceremonial feathers, beaded necklaces and more skulls. "Sibulungan", the traditional Mentawai religion, endows all life with "kina" (spirits.)

More pictures: