House and Home

Abstract

As has already been mentioned in the preceding chapter, Mru hamlets are not found at any fixed elevation. The most important consideration has to do with the available water supply: there must be a water source near the hamlet which does not run dry even in the dry season. This may be a small brook or stream. That a settlement is located above a stream is unavoidable; that it, however, is also always found above a spring — so that water must be carried up to the village — surely indicates that higher residential locations are preferred whenever available. If the source runs dry too often, one has a reason to move; illnesses which occur too frequently may also prompt the relocation of a settlement.