CHAP. XI.] A DWELLING-HOUSE DESCRIBED. 89

Near one side of the valley, and about midway up the ascent
of a rather abrupt rise of ground waving with the richest ver-
dure, a number of large stones were laid in successive courses, to
the height of nearly eight feet, and disposed in such a manner
that their level surface corresponded in shape with the habitation
which was perched upon it. A narrow space, however, was re-
served in front of the dwellii]^, upon the summit of this pile of
stones, (called by the natives a ^^ pi-pi,") which being enclosed
by a little picket of canes, gave it somewhat the appearance of a
verandah. The frame of the house was constructed of large
bamboos planted uprightly, and secured together at intervals by
transverse stalks of the light wood of the habiscus, lashed with
thongs of bark. The rear of the tenement — built up with suc-
cessive ranges of cocoa-nut boughs bound one upon another, with
their leaflets cunningly woven together — ^inclined a little from
the vertical, and extended from the extreme edge of the ^^ pi pi"
to about twenty feet from its sur&ce ; whence the shelving roof
— thatched with the long tapering leaves of the palmetto-~sloped
steeply off to within about five feet of the floor ; leaving the
eaves drooping with tassel-like appendages over the front of the
habitation. This was constructed of light and elegant canes, in
a kind of open screen work, tastefully adorned with bindings of
variegated sinuate, which served to hold together its various
parts. The sides of the house were similarly built ; thus pre-
senting three quarters for the circulation of the air, while the
whole was impervious to the rain.
