The floors are coral, cleanly swept, and the interior is arranged to meet a functional purpose. The natives do not use chairs or tables, but prefer to sit on the floor, cross legged, or in their inimitable squatting position—sitting on their haunches with the toes outspread, duck fashion.
Lack of house furnishings gives the impression of vast roominess in the Ulithi dwellings; actually, where a sofa or an easy chair might be, the father may push in his canoe at night. Bureaus and dressing tables are replaced by the carry-all purses. A few of the dwellings have regular army cots, and some have our discarded straw matresses. Unlike the native settlement at Angaur, in the Palaus, we didn't find a community washing machine, although at Fassarai they did have a radio, a portable battery cell model.
Dr. Wees taught the natives to wash their clothing and themselves, and occasionally one sees wash stands. Prior to this, the sea had been the cleanser of body and clothing.
The outer walls of huts, these days, may have the trademark of a nationally advertised laundry soap, or a formidable naval hieroglyphic address on them; flotsam washed ashore and Dr. Wees' canvass of the holds of vessels has provided the Ulithians with the new convenience of wooden walls. Large oil drums provide water containers. Normally each hut has a sasban, or cooking container, just outside the door. Dr. Wees added a sanitation note in building rock caches, which are placed conveniently throughout the island. Trash is now burned rather than left to breed disease.
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