EAST OF SUEZ.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 27, 1 February 1930, Page 4 (Supplement)

EAST OF SUEZ.

SIMPLIFIED HOUSEKEEPING. NO CARES, NO WORRIES, LITTLE WORK. (By a Special Correspondent.) Housekeeping at its simplest is the type practised by Samoyed women of Siberia. They do not even bother to clean their houses. When they throw so much refuse on the floor that it is difficult to get around, they pull *up stakes and plant their tent in a'new and clean spot. The abandoned tent sites, rightfully enough are regarded as unclean and no one else pitches tent there. Home life in Turkestan is largely a matter of making rugs. Turkestan rugs are so famous that it is more profitable for a woman to neglect her household duties for weaving. Poppy-Grown Mud Huts. The mud huts of the Turkomans are not conducive to interior decoration. They are windowless, which obviates windowwashing on the part of the Turkestan women, and the furniture is limited to a few benches and tables. Poppy seeds are sometimes carried by the wind into the mud and thatch roofs ,of the houses and, after rains, one can see housetops abloom with poppies. The Tibetan wife not only manages her household and does the light housework, but she even helps erect her house. Cooking, sweeping and water-carrying

io not encompass her talents. She helpe the men sow, reap and plough, and develops her muscles by cutting firewood and carrying huge bundles. In Burma, the housewife bothers little about littering up her house with foodstuffs and kitchen utensils. As long as the weather permits, meals are cooked and eaten outdoors. Her house usually stands about eight feet above the ground and the floors are of bamboo cane. Most of the dust that falls 011 the floor sifte right through the cane, so carpet sweepers would be a drug on the market in that section of the world. Simpler and Simpler. Japan is modernised but many old customs persist in the rural homes. The Japanese housewife rolls up her bed and puts it away every morning. Much of her "furniture" may likewise be rolled up as it consists mainly of . mats and cushions. There are no windows to wash, no picture frames to dust and the walls, fold back to let in the breezes. Dishes are washed in cold water and even clothes can be washed without those two requisites of the western world— hot water and soap. Irons are not needed, for cotton is dried by. stretching on bamboo, poles, and wet silk is smoothed on a board and dried in. the 3Un. Clay Beds of Egypt. The Egyptian peasant "women along the Nile are the world's luckiest as far as bed-making is concerned. Their houses are made of clay and a ledge of earth at the side of the room Berves not only as a bed but as chairs. Primitive housekeeping is practised in the Samoan Islands. There are no bathtubs. The Samoans bathe daily in the surf of the clear, cold mountain streams. Their "furniture" is limited to pots, bowls of coconut shell or gourds. Samoan pillows are "dusted" not "smoothed." They are of wood. Pebbles on the bare ground serve in place of carpets or wooden floors. There are no knives or forks to polish in Arabia. Dinner is served in a huge pot containing a sheep besides vegetables and pastry lumps resembling dumplings. Everyone at dinner helps himself by dipping his hand into the pot and bringing forth his share. In Yemen, Arabia, the housewife makes coffee by boiling the husk instead of the berry.

To tighten a cane-bottomed chair wash it in a strong solution of soda and water, and let it get thoroughly dry. It will then be iound that the can© has sTirnnk' and the seat is tightened.