40 BULLETIN 14 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



upright poles supported the roof poles, which were so placed as to 

 converge like a cone. Slats were lain upon the roof beams and 

 thatched over with grass or pabn leaves. A center pole extended 

 from the apex of the roof to the center of the floor of the hut. This 

 was the smaller type of house structure. 



The cacique's house was a rectangular structure, but was con- 

 structed of the same materials. Instead of a conical roof there 

 extended a ridgepole from one side of the house to the other. The 

 ridgepole was fixed in position by forked house posts. A lean-to 

 extending from the roof of the main structure was really an open 

 porch, such as may still be seen in the country throughout the island. 



The furniture of a native hut was meager. It provided for the 

 needs of daily life and for religious objects required in times of 

 crises. Domestic requirements came first and Avere filled by earthen- 

 ware vessels of varied description, an open fireplace with a supply 

 of heating stones, cassava griddles of earthenware, seats of carved 

 wood, hammocks, and a meager supply of articles of woven cotton 

 cloth and netting. The hammock was chair, couch, and bed, and 

 cradle as well. The j^rincipal varieties were woven or netted. The 

 woven hammock was essentially a piece of woven cotton cloth, while 

 the netted hammock had a framework to hold the openwork looped 

 netting in position. Hammocks were slung out of doors on the 

 porch. In colder weather they were slung inside the house, while a 

 fire was kindled underneath. Sleeping on the ground was common. 

 An improvised bed of plantain leaves was then prepared. 



Stools were of primary importance in Haiti. The stools (" duhos ") 

 were gi-aded according to the rank of the user. Important men sat 

 on artistically carved wooden stools. Stone stools and those of 

 carved woods were to be found in the houses of the caciques. Simple 

 wooden stools were of the generalized South American and Central 

 American type, in which a concave seat, together with four short 

 legs, were cut from the solid log. A step beyond this and still a 

 common form was the wooden stool with flat or slightly concave but 

 unpolished seat, four flexed stumpy legs, and an anthropomorphic or 

 zoomorphic head cut out of the front end of the seat, while a 

 stumpy tail projected from the rear. A still more elaborate form 

 provided for decorative embellishments in the form of paneled 

 inlay with shells or gold, Avhile the upward concavely arched tail 

 or back rest was elaborately etched with decoirative designs in 

 spirals, triangles, and rectilinear motives. The ceremonial use of 

 this form of stool was noted by early Spanish writers. The legged 

 stone stools with concave backs were also used as mealing stones, 

 "metates," the regular form of the metate not occurring in the 

 Greater Antilles. The stool form of the metate often was provided 



