First, as regards their dwelling-houses. The mode of construction of these varies among the different tribes, and has already been referred to in the preceding chapter, in connection with funeral rites. The houses of the Taiyal--simple bamboo and grass shelters, having only a doorway, but no windows[86]--call for little in the way of detailed description. These huts are mere sleeping-places, the beds being bamboo benches, built against the sides of the wall, at about two feet elevation from the ground. Only in rainy weather is either cooking or weaving done inside the house. The interior of the hut is in almost total darkness, the doorway being both narrow and low; so low that even a woman has to stoop in order to enter it. The smaller tribes whose territory adjoins that of the Taiyal also build huts after the fashion of their more powerful neighbours. The Ami folk, certainly those living on, or near, the coast, substitute roughly hewn planks or small saplings for bamboo. This may, perhaps, be due to Chinese influence. The houses of the Bunun and Paiwan are much more substantial, and are constructed on an altogether different principle, these houses being of the “pit-dwelling” type. With these tribes it is to _dig_ a house, rather than to _build_ one, since a larger portion of the structure is below ground than above it. A space about ten feet by twelve is cleared of trees and jungle growth, and a pit is dug. This pit is usually between four and five feet deep. The sides of the pit are lined with slabs of slate, quarried by the tribesmen. These slate walls are carried up about three feet above the surface of the earth, thus giving a wall-height to the house of about seven feet. For the roof bamboo poles are first laid across from wall to wall, then on top of these are placed other slabs of slate, giving the house a substantial, but rather cave-like, appearance.[87] The effect upon a stranger entering a Paiwan village is to make him wonder, first whether he has been transported into a land of gnomes, and secondly--and more seriously--whether or not the gnome-tradition may have arisen from a subterranean-dwelling people similar to the present-day Paiwan.