Dobu - Settlements



The "district" of Dobu Island contained about twelve "localities" or village clusters, each of which was constituted of a number of small, dispersed villages with an average population of about twenty-five persons. A typical village contains a circle of houses that face inward to a central, stone-covered grave mound, in which matriclan members of the village are buried. Paths skirt the village rather than passing through it, and the village is surrounded by coconut, betel nut, and other fruit trees. Houses are rectangular, traditionally with a steeply pitched roof; they are built on piles with a small front verandah. Walls and roof are made of sago-leaf thatch.

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