Once inside the house the arrangement impressed one as being similar to those of the Bagobo.  Just above the door, and again in the far end of the room, poles were laid across the beams to form the floors of lofts which, in this case, were used as sleeping rooms.

In front of the door, at the opposite side of the room, was a bed of ashes in which three stones were sunk to form the stove, and above this was suspended a rack which contained cooking pots, drying wood, ears of corn, and the like.  Close to the stove were a few earthen pots (Fig. 35) and many short bamboo tubes filled with water, while against the wall hung rattan frames filled with half cocoanut-shell dishes, spoons, and two or three old Chinese plates.  Near the center of the room stood a rice mortar made by hollowing out a section of log.  At the far end of the room was a raised sleeping platform, such as is found in all Bagobo houses, and extending from this to the center and on each side of the room were narrow stalls where the women were engaged in weaving, and in which they slept and kept their most valued possessions.

FIG. 35.  COOKING POT AND COVER.

In the description of the house we have mentioned most of the furnishings.  In addition it is customary to find a few well made mats of pandanus or buri palm leaf.  These are spread on the floor when the owners wish to retire and for the rest of the time are rolled up and laid along the walls.  Carved forked sticks which serve as torch-holders stand in various parts of the room, while somewhere near the stove is a miscellany of wooden meat blocks, bamboo fans and fly swatters, gourds filled with millet, salt, or mashed peppers, and shovel-shaped or round rice winnowers, which also serve as common eating dishes for the family and guests.  Well made baskets stand by the walls or hang from pegs along with articles of clothing, while spears, shields, and other weapons are fastened to side walls or roof.

Small clearings are found at no great distance from these dwellings and in them the people raise rice, corn, millet, camotes, sugar-cane, and a few banana and hemp plants (Plate L).  As is the case with all the wild tribes in this district, the Bila-an make new clearings as soon as the cogon grass begins to invade their fields, and this in time causes them to move their homes from one locality to another.

The domestic animals consist of a few chickens, dogs, an occasional cat and pig, and in the lower cogon lands, a few families possess horses.  Some fish are secured from the river, while deer, wild pig, jungle fowl, and other game are taken with traps or secured by hunting.